


These Colored Strings Of Ours

by ADyingFlower



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Airplane Crashes, Angst and Humor, Codependency, Coming of Age, Gen, HQ Brofest Champion Tier, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Injury Recovery, Major Character Injury, Moral Dilemmas, Near Death Experiences, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Past Child Abuse, Permanent Injury, Platonic Life Partners, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Prophetic Dreams, Queerplatonic Relationships, Superpowers, Unconventional Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-04
Updated: 2018-04-04
Packaged: 2019-04-18 05:33:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14206176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ADyingFlower/pseuds/ADyingFlower
Summary: After the trip of their lives during the break before college started, five best friends find themselves among the survivors of a horrifying plane crash, leaving them to deal with the fallout of their injuries and dreams.Shouyou has it hard enough with his career ending injury before there was even properly a career, never mind having to learn to grow beyond the sport that captured his heart and introduced him to his closest friends, and those weird colors he keeps seeing around people certainly aren't helping either.After all, superpowers don't actually happen in reality, right?





	These Colored Strings Of Ours

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote this in four days, it's like eighty five pages

“This is so nerve wracking, I mean what if customs stop us or request a pat down, you _know_ how I do with strangers touching me, what if the plane crashes or has to be delayed, then we’ll be late, or well, dead, you know, for the beginning of the school year and -”

It was a damn good thing Yamaguchi was with them, or else Shouyou would have had to tackle one of his many best friends to get her to stop making his own anxiety rack up, which was already doped out on motion sickness medication. As it was, he was barely keeping his own eyes open thanks to the pills Tsukishima practically forced down his throat after the disaster of the last flight. To be fair, Tsukishima didn’t heed his warning of ‘I’m gonna puke’ seriously enough.

“We managed fine on the way here,” Yamaguchi spoke with his ‘I’m training to be a psychiatrist’ voice, which pretty much made everyone within a five mile radius relax, it was that calming. “You know what to do in case of a pat down, and customs didn’t stop us on the way in, so I doubt they would stop us on the way out back to Japan.”

The five of them were currently crushed in the back of a taxi on the way to the airport after one hell of a summer vacation before college started. And by crushed, Shouyou meant that he was stuck in the middle, Kageyama and Yamaguchi on either side with Yachi perched delicately on Kageyama’s lap, and the jerk Tsukishima sitting smugly in the front.

It _was_ a fun vacation, though. One last big hurrah before the ‘inseparable five’ split off to go to different colleges, in pursuit of different things with volleyball no longer holding them together.

“Don’t worry, Yachan, we’ll be fine!” Hinata smiled his million watt smile that never failed to make Tsukishima cover his eyes like he was staring into the sun, but it had the intended effect of making Yachi smile back, if a tad wobbly.

Kageyama didn’t say anything, but he patted Yachi’s hair like one would an anxious puppy, which wasn’t too far of the mark when Hinata actually thought about it.

If only things actually worked out as they thought it would.

///

Shouyou felt himself being shaken, his shoulder jolting painfully.

“Hinata, Hinata please -” That was Kageyama’s voice, sounding as if it had already driven right over the edge of close to tears to full on sobs. “Please wake up, you have to wake up please _please_ Shouyou, please wake up -”

What’s...going on? They had made it through customs no problem, he remembered that, and Yachi’s panic had eventually calmed down as they took off no problem. Kageyama and him had stolen the seats across from the three of them, occasionally snarking across the aisle at Tsukishima’s snide remarks.

Then, then -

Screaming. Cabin lights flashing. The sound of metal rendering apart. Oxygen flowing unsteadily from the mask strapped to his face.

Kageyama’s clammy hand in his, Yamaguchi’s terrified tears. The flash of Tsukishima folding a trembling Yachi into his side protectively.

The plane had crashed, hadn’t it?

His shoulder was gently released, scrambling fingers searching along his neck. Another hand tilted his slump head to the side, cradling it carefully with panicked breaths. “Dammit, dammit I can’t tell if you have a pulse, please Shouyou, just be alive I promise we’ll share that stupid apartment you want so bad, I’ll stop complaining about all those selfies you take, I’ll even take you out for meat buns for your birthday like I promised.” A shuddering breath, and then Shouyou felt Kageyama tuck his head into his shoulder, trembling hands pulling him closer. “ _Please don’t be dead_.”

It took pretty much all he had, but Shouyou let out a weak groan, his eyes fluttering open blearily. Instantly, Kageyama let out a heartbreaking cry and launched himself at him, relieved tears soaking his hair.

“Thank god,” Kageyama whispered, pulling back to look him over. “Anything hurt?”

Shouyou blinked a couple more times, desperately trying to regain his bearings. “Left leg…really hurts.”

Kageyama glanced down, and his eyes widened. “Okay, that’s…just don’t look down.”

He looked down.

Oh god. It was bad. His right leg was saved by being in Kageyama’s leg space, but his left leg all below the knee was crushed between where the seat in front of him had caved in. The pain spiked, but shock must have still held a pretty strong hold because it wasn’t unbearable.

Realization shot through him like thunder. “The others -!”

The other boy grimaced. “My seatbelt is stuck, I can’t get it open.”

Shouyou leaned towards him, hissing as his crushed leg protested the movement. Kageyama looked alright, other than the tender way he cradled his right arm. His fingers were slow as he plucked at the belt, but sure enough the seatbelt was truly stuck.

“Shit,” He cursed, looking around for anything to cut the seatbelt with. His eyes caught on the three across from them, who were all slumped over with closed eyes, and he couldn’t ignore the way his heart sped up in worry.

He obviously couldn’t get up to check on them, so he had to find some way to cut Kageyama out, and quick.

Glass from the broken window shined from the sunlight peeking in, and he swallowed. This is no time to be nervous, Shouyou…

Stealing himself, he grabbed one of the larger glass shards, clenching it awkwardly and ignoring the way blood seeped out from his palm.

“Dumbass!” Kageyama barked as Shouyou brought the shard over to the belt, sawing at the fabric as quickly as he could. “You’re already bleeding too much as it is, don’t add more to it!”

Involuntarily, Shouyou’s hand clenched harder around the glass. Blood dripped onto Kageyama’s jeans, but he ignore it with a clenched jaw. “I don’t see you coming up with a better way to check if anyone else is alive, idiot.”

Kageyama wisely kept his mouth shut after that.

The belt finally snapped into two with a quiet ‘shk’, the glass shard tumbling from his hand to join the other fragments scattered on the floor. Kageyama didn’t waste any time, gently shoving him back into his seat and launching himself unsteadily to his feet, wobbling over to where Yamaguchi was sprawled in the aisle seat.

“Hey, hey Yamaguchi.” Kageyama shook his shoulder none too gently, a subtle shake to his voice that Shouyou could barely hear. “Wake up, please Tadashi you have to get up.”

Yamaguchi didn’t wake up, but someone else did.

“Kageyama…?” Yachi could barely get those words out before she started hacking out a lung, something that looked suspiciously like blood splattering along her hands.

“Yachi!” Shouyou yelled, stuck helplessly pinned in his seat as Kageyama leaned over the still unconscious Yamaguchi to cradle Yachi to his chest, still cautious of his right arm.

“Hinata?” Yachi poked her head up, blood staining her previously blonde hair a dark brown in some spots. There was more blood all along her teeth, but she didn’t seem too concerned as she poked a cautious finger in her mouth. “Ow, I bit my tongue yikes, what… happened…”

She finally looked up, spotting everything for what it really was. The sparking ceiling, the faint smell of smoke, the cuts and bruises all along Kageyama’s face and arm, the two unconscious bodies next to her.

“Oh god,” She heaved out a wheeze, shock obviously setting in. “The plane crashed. Oh god, the plane crashed. Kei! Tadashi!” Yachi shook both of their shoulders, and Shouyou felt something in his stomach curl as Yamaguchi only slumped more and Tsukishima’s head lolled to the side.

It took another moment, but Yamaguchi finally responded, his eyebrows furrowing in pain before he instinctively responded to Yachi’s panicked screams. Hazel eyes eventually slipped open, and a hiss escaped clenched teeth. “Hitoka-chan… What?”

It was painful. So painful watching the fear settle in Yamaguchi’s eyes as coherency slipped in, making way for pain and desperation.

“You okay? Where does it hurt?” Kageyama, business as usual even as he leaned on the seat in front of them, trying to disguise how much pain he was in, but transparent as always.

Yachi shook her head. “I’m okay, I think I bit my tongue when we crashed and my wrist doesn’t feel right, but other than that Tsukishima shielded me from most of it.”

All four of them sent worried looks towards Tsukishima, who was still determined to sleep through all of this. Yachi shook him some more, but Tsukishima only let out a stuttered breath that let them know he was still alive, if bleeding and unconscious.

“My ribs hurts,” Yamaguchi admitted after a pause, where he obviously debated telling a white lie. “And I think there’s glass or something in my leg, but nothing else really, _really_ hurts.”

“You might be internally bleeding, though.” Kageyama pointed out, and Shouyou felt like smacking him if he could actually get up. Bluntness was not what any of them needed right now, even if Kageyama couldn’t help it.

“W-We can focus on that later.” Yachi nervously stuttered out. “Tsukishima needs to wake up, and we need to get out of here and find other… other survivors.” The last part was a whisper, and none of them could help the instinctual shudder.

Yamaguchi swallowed heavily, before shuffling with his own buckle. Yachi quickly followed, and soon enough both of them had unbuckled themselves and were trying to rouse Tsukishima. Kageyama drifted back to Shouyou, eyeing the seat that was crushing his leg to pieces. At one point, he glanced towards the people sitting in front of them, but his face quickly turned chalk pale, and Shouyou knew better than to ask why.

Faintly, there was a groan, and Shouyou couldn’t help the relieved “Tsukishima!” that burst out of him.

Tsukishima was rubbing the bridge of his nose, but quickly hissed out a protest as he irritated the scratch on his face. His glasses were missing, probably having flown off in the crash, and several scratches littered his right side from where the window had shattered next to him. Then, his head jerked up, panic clear as day in his eyes as he desperately scanned all of them. It was only when he accounted for all of them that a relieved breath left him, his entire body visibly untensing with the effort.

“Injuries?” Kageyama asked, brisk as usual, but even he couldn’t not be concerned over how out of it Tsukishima seemed.

“Egh…” Tsukishima spat a couple of times, gingerly poking at the glass shards embedded in his skin. “What do you think, King? There’s glass in me and probably a concussion, if the raging headache is anything to say.”

Strangely, that seemed to comfort Kageyama more than anything the rest of them could’ve said. “So you’re fine, nice. If the three of you are up to it, I need help getting Hinata out of his seat.”

“Wait,” Yamaguchi’s head whipped towards Shouyou, who awkwardly waved back. “What do you mean ‘getting out of’?”

Yachi’s eyes widened, and she launched herself over Yamaguchi’s lap before anyone could react, clattering to her feet next to Kageyama. Brown eyes swept over his form, and a half strangled cry left her lips as she spotted the mess of his left leg. “O-oh g-god, Shouyou you’re gonna - we need to get you out -”

Her panic only fueled Yamaguchi’s, which in turn made Tsukishima stumble to his feet. Yamaguchi paled, his hands flying up to cover his mouth, but Tsukishima only steeled himself, his teeth clenching together as he walked towards him with steady steps.

“Shouyou.” Tsukishima’s voice was as flat as ever, yet Shouyou could feel the beginnings of shock wear off with that bit of normality. “We have to pull you out, this plane can go up into flames any second now. It’s going to hurt.”

He swallowed. Nodded. Braced himself against his seat as Kageyama and Tsukishima took up positions to push. Yachi’s soft hand settled in his own even as Yamaguchi set to work unbuckling him.

“As fast as you can, shock can kill just as easily as blood loss.” He heard Tsukishima mutter to Kageyama, but he didn’t have time to wonder about it as pain burst in his leg.

Shouyou screamed, fighting Yamaguchi’s oppressive hold on him to try and grab his leg, to stop the pain -

There’s was another shove of pressure, and then his leg was free, but he barely noticed. Drool dribbled from his mouth, the overwhelming smell of blood and smoke choking him.

Unconsciousness called him, but Yachi’s trembling hold on his hand kept him back. Her voice was soft as she kept repeating “Shouyou you can’t pass out Shouyou if you pass out you won’t wake up you have to stay awake -”

His eyes blinked back open, and he’s pretty sure that sigh of relief he heard came from Tsukishima, of all people.

A hand stroked his sweaty hair back, and he leaned into it. “Let’s get you out of here,” Yamaguchi murmured, and hands lifted him out of his seat and into the aisle, carefully helping him limp towards the outside, towards safety.

///

Twenty-seven survivors.

Twenty-seven survivors out of how many there were on the plane.

(Tsukishima eyes flicked over the row numbers. “At maximum, somewhere around two hundred and fifty. And that’s not counting crew members”)

Shouyou could only watch from where he was carefully laid down on the grass. Yamaguchi ran a hand through his hair, left to watch him after one too many funny sounding breaths.

(He tried not to think about punctured lungs, of how long it would take for rescue, of the screams of the people around them finding corpses instead of family and friends.)

The shock had worn off, rather forcibly by Tsukishima’s aggressive bundling and Yachi’s soft pointed questions, keeping his body warm and his mind focus on the present. All that was left was the pain and discomfort from his leg, which was probably broken in at least five pieces.

Tsukishima and Kageyama have been gone for a while, drifting through the wreckage in search of survivors with a couple others. Occasionally, they brought out another person among the countless injured. Not usually, though. Instead, they came back with pinched mouths and pale faces. They kept searching, even though they had already swept through the plane twice, all for the desperate hope that somebody else was alive.

Yachi was gone too, speaking broken english to a willowy man who only had a broken nose and three fingers to his name. The two of them were the most fit out of all of them, running around patching people up the best they could out of blankets and coats from fallen luggage.

He bought a snowglobe, while they were in Europe. In it, an ancient castle stands solem, covered in painted snow along the rims of the roofs. It’s probably broken, he muses idly. A little ways away, he could see where the luggage had tumbled out of the plane, clothing items littering the trees like ripped flags.

Twenty-seven survivors.

A lot of them were probably going to die before help arrived. The thought didn’t scare him, even as he saw the blood seep through the blanket around his leg, heard the way every breath from Yamaguchi’s mouth was labored with a strange wheeze to it.

His hand crept up, and Yamaguchi took it without a word.

Rescue needed to come soon, because he didn’t think either of them were going to make it much longer.

Guess now was a good time to make his peace as any other. He was only eighteen, but he hadn’t had a bad row at things, if he could say so himself. He went to nationals, went on one of those find yourself journey’s with all four of his best friends, had a pretty happy family life.

His eyes started to slip close involuntarily, but a light slap against his cheek brought him back. Yamaguchi was watching him with terrified eyes, squeezing his hand gently. “Hey, Hinata, you have to stay awake okay? We still haven’t decided what we’re doing for college, we… let’s all share that apartment, okay? You just have to stay awake.”

(Six months ago, Tsukishima and him had argued for two weeks over the thoughts of college. One clinging to desperately to a friendship that should be left to decay with time and the other too cynical about the future and the relationships it carried.)

(Six months ago, he made them all promise when they were sleep drunk to share an apartment in Tokyo when they went off to college.)

(Six months ago, Shouyou realized how scared he was to be left alone.)

Tears welled in his eyes. Dammit Yamaguchi, making him want to keep on living when he was making peace with himself.

Slowly, he nodded, and Yamaguchi let out the most heartbreaking relieved smile he’s ever seen.

“That’s my Hinata.” Yamaguchi praised, only slightly condescending, and Shouyou couldn’t help the laugh bubbling out of him.

“You too.” He murmured, squeezing Yamaguchi’s hand tightly. “Stay awake till then.”

Yamaguchi nodded sharply, lifting his hand to press a dry kiss to his limp knuckles.

The two of them stayed like that for a while longer, keeping their breaths in sync together. But Yamaguchi’s wheezes only became louder as time went on, and Shouyou started shivering with the cold that latched in his bones.

 _Shock could kill just as easily as blood loss_ Tsukishima’s voice rang in his brain, and he couldn’t help the snort from escaping him.

Tsukishima and Kageyama eventually entered their line of sight, and Shouyou didn’t have to imagine the way Tsukishima went sheet white at their rapidly deteriorating appearance.

The blond collapsed to his knees next to Yamaguchi, who he realized for the first time was completely zoned out, his eyes focused on the trees in the distance. “H-Hey, you two, you need to stay awake.”

Shouyou hissed as he felt the blanket lifted from his leg, Kageyama’s voice wavering as he spoke aloud. “Tsukishima, you need to look at this.”

In a flash, Tsukishima dropped his hand from where he was unsuccessfully trying to rouse Yamaguchi from his mind place, sliding in next to Kageyama. “ _Shit_.”

“The blood isn’t stopping! Why isn’t it stopping?! Hinata is going to bleed out at this rate.”

Tsukishima’s next words were a near whisper. “Shut up King, you’re only going to make people panic.”

Kageyama’s next words were tight. “Who? Who, Tsukishima? Yachi is busy trying to stop more people dying, Yamaguchi is barely holding onto consciousness, and Hinata is so out of it I could call eggs over rice the worst breakfast food ever and he wouldn’t respond.”

Both of them stopped for a moment as if to wait for his response, and while Hinata felt the ignition spark a flame in his gut, it was quickly smothered under the overwhelming level of pain, muffling noise and whitening his vision steadily but surely.

Tsukishima cursed. “A rescue better come soon, because neither of them are going to make it to sunrise at this rate.”

///

Shouyou floated.

He kept his eyes open through sheer force of will, but it was getting harder every moment.

Yachi was there, occasionally, looking over him with wet eyes.

“Keep fighting, Shouyou.” She murmured, but when he blinked next she was gone.

Numbers flashed by. Twenty-seven became twenty-six became twenty-five. Every time Yachi’s trembling smile faded a little more, every time Tsukishima’s fear became just a little more evident, every time Kageyama’s hand started shaking a little more.

The sun set at some point. There was a fire flickering in the corner of his eye, and people cloaked in thick blankets huddled around it.

Tears hit his face. “Don’t die, Shouyou.” Tsukishima whispered, and then he was gone.

Yamaguchi’s hold on his hand relaxed until Shouyou’s hand was just laying on top of his. Coughs joined the backdrop wheezes, and speckles of red dusted his chin like more freckles.

(He remembered calling them stardust, imprints of planets long past, laughing loudly as Yamaguchi’s face went red under the praise. Now his freckles were red too, red giants dying under their own evolution.)

“You gotta…” He mumbled, voice slurring heavily. “Tell m’ mom, luv her.”

Someone let out a broken whimper. “I promise.”

“Na’su too.” Shouyou added, and he felt someone nod from where they were spooning him.

His head was so foggy. It wouldn’t be bad if he just…closed his eyes for a little bit, right?

There was the sound of engines in the distance. “A rescue.” It was a whisper at first, and then louder. “We’re here, we need help, we’re right here!”

A hand on his shoulder. “You’re gonna be okay, help here’s now. You’re both going to be okay.”

More voices. Gloved hands pressing against his neck, and then under his shoulders to lift him up. Yamaguchi’s hand fell away from his, and a language he didn’t recognize hummed around him from countless voices.

Then nothing.

///

Shouyou woke up.

There was the sound of engines in his ears, Tsukishima’s pained cries of “DO SOMETHING!”, blonde hair splayed out like a halo around Yachi’s head as people in uniforms swarmed her.

And then he was strapped down on a gurney, pinpricks of pain in his elbow, and then -

Shouyou woke up.

There was a tube down his throat, and he struggled against it, the whirring sound of alarms in his ears. More unfamiliar hands, and then -

Shouyou woke up.

Kageyama was by his bedside, his shoulder wrapped up in a sling. A bandage was plastered on the skin under his eye, and Shouyou couldn’t stop staring at it.

One of his hands was being played with idly. “-Yachi is still in critical care, can you believe her, lying about being injured? They said it looks good though, even if she’s probably gonna lose a kidney. Yamaguchi is in surgery recovery - Tsukishima and me have been trading off shifts. They said… they said you’ll be lucky if you can walk after this, nevermind volleyball.”

Something in his eyes steeled. “We won’t let you deal with this alone. After all… we’re best friends.”

(“You’re my friend!” Shouyou had shouted, back when they were still first years and high on the taste of victory. “Of course I care!”)

(“I had never had a friend before.” Kageyama had told him, several years later.)

Kageyama looked up, and then -

Shouyou woke up.

It was Tsukishima, this time. There was a giant bandage wrapped around his head, and a portion of his hair looked to be shaved off. Ill fitting reading glasses jammed uncomfortably against the bridge of his nose as he dozed in the chair next to him.

“Tsuki…” He trailed out into a series of harsh coughs, and then -

Shouyou woke up.

His mother was crying above him, her lovely makeup smeared and her hair slipping from her usually neat bun.

She jolted when she noticed him. “His eyes are open!” She turned to look at Tsukishima, who he realized was still there, still huddled in the hospital chair seat looking too thin and fragile for comfort.

The blond only shook his head though. “The doctors say it’s an involuntary response, he’s not really all there mentally.”

His mother visibly wilted. “Oh,” She reached out as if to pet his hair, and then -

Shouyou woke up.

Natsu with her bubblegum lip gloss and painted nails ran a careful thumb under his eye. “You need to wake up, not this weird drift because of the fever.” She told him, and he wanted to reach out, do something to comfort the tears forming in her eyes, because no one could ever make her cry, and then -

Shouyou woke up.

///

The nurse gasped at him as he weakly tried to pull the oxygen mask away from his face, to scratch at the itchy IV line, to search for the others, it was all too much -

“You’re awake!” She gaped, pushing him back into the bed when he tried to shuffle to a sitting position. “Stay still, let me get this -” Leaning over, she pressed a button along the side of his bed, beaming down at him with a slightly wobbly smile.

There was -

“Pink.” He murmured. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, so he repeated himself. “You’re pink.”

It was true. All around her head, rose colored air seemed to curl around her hair like a kind looking parasite.

She opened her mouth to respond, something like concern playing around her mouth, but movement out of the corner of his eye made him turn his head.

Tsukishima was standing in the doorway, gripping the wood in a white knuckled grip. “Hina..ta?’

He nodded, once, and a blond blur almost tackled him into his seat. “Oh god, you’re awake!”

The other boy pulled back from the hug, a small smile on his face that compared to anyone else would be a full on beam. Hands settled on his shoulders, gently pushing him back until his spine was flush with the mattress.

But for the first time, Shouyou noticed something odd flickering around Tsukishima’s hair. It nearly blended in, the daffodil shade tossing around Tsukishima’s head as if it had a life of its own, if it weren’t for the silver outlining it and the faint splash of black ink that seemed to fade the longer they stared at each other.

Oh. That’s… He’s apparently seeing colors now.

Don’t freak out Shouyou. Don’t freak out.

///

He freaked out, and ended up with another needle in his arm. Great.

///

Yamaguchi, of all people, was asleep in the chair next to him when he woke up next.

A halo of forest green, shot through with gold, floated around his hair. Shouyou reached up, wincing slightly as it tugged on the IV line in his arm, but let his hand fly through the air around Yamaguchi’s hair. The green parted around his hand like dust, but whatever they must have gave him kept him pretty calm over the fact that he was suddenly seeing color when there should be none.

Yep. Calm. Totally.

Yamaguchi startled as one of his hand waves came too close to his cowlick, darting up in his seat when their eyes connected. “Hinata! You’re awake! Wait here, I’ll go grab the others.”

He shot to his feet, wobbling a bit with a hand braced against his side, but managed to make his way to the doorway and out into the hallway beyond. It only took what felt like between one blink and the next, and then Kageyama was shooting past the door frame and into one of the plastic seats lined up against the bed.

“Idiot!” He scowled, but Shouyou was still fixed on the pretty navy blue and royal purple mixed together, the edges looking like they were seeped in a shade of blinding yellow. “Idiot, idiot, idiot!”

Shouyou squaked. “How am I the idiot, idiot?!”

Kageyama tossed his head up, not even looking towards the other as Tsukishima joined them, bumblebee yellow helping a limping forest green into a seat on the opposite side. “Because you are an idiot. Idiot.”

“Now now, Hinata just woke up, let’s not beat him up already.” Yamaguchi awkwardly grinned, sharing a high five with Tsukishima under Kageyama’s eyesight but certainly not out of Shouyou’s.

He scowled. “I hate you all, jerks the lot of you.”

Tsukshima lightly bumped their shoulders together. “Nah, you don’t.”

Shouyou grinned. “Nah, I don’t.”

///

Yachi was officially released from the ICU three days later, missing one kidney and in for one hell of a scolding for pushing herself. Shouyou himself would be in the hospital for likely another week, and then he would be transferred to rehab back in Japan for another week or two, while Yamaguchi would be released in about another two days.

He found out that Kageyama had already been released while he was under, only have dislocated his arm and needing a couple of stitches. Tsukishima was being released that day, the inflammation in his skull having finally calmed down, now with a bald spot on the side of his head from where they had to insert a tube to relieve the pressure.

In the meantime, in between long bouts of waiting as visitor hours finished and before sleep could come, he explored the colors.

Chromesthesia, he figured as first, but that didn’t make sense. The colors were still there even if it was complete silence in the room, and went away as soon as he closed his eyes.

Then, he thought maybe he had superpowers.

And the thought stuck.

He tested it out during one of the visits where Kageyama elected to sit with him, the two of them focused on the volleyball match playing on the TV in the corner while his mother was down in the cafeteria to get some food into her.

(Shouyou tried not to think about crushed futures, about the view on the other side of the court, of invisible wings as he _soared_.)

Kageyama’s usual kingly colors were tinged with a miserable gray, the yellow almost gone completely in the wake of muddled browns and blacks.

“Hey, yamayama.” He turned his head to face his friend, who had his head braced on his crossed arms, absently playing with Shouyou’s hand that wasn’t connected to the the heart/oxygen/everything-vital-to-his-continued-survival behind the bed. “Something bugging you?”

Blue eyes flickered towards him, and then back to the TV. Silence reigned for several long moments, and he could only watch as all the pretty colors faded under the swell of grey.

Then: “You won’t be able to play volleyball anymore.”

Shouyou blinked wet eyes, turning his head to the other side to gaze at the far wall until the tide of utter grief came to a more manageable level. “Yeah,” He eventually croaked, swallowing heavily. “I know.”

All those dreams, all ended in a single moment. He was eighteen years old, and he lost everything. His mother didn’t make much money by herself, certainly not enough to help him pay for college, and he knew he was dumb as a rock. His sports scholarship, his damn _leg_ -

He blinked, and a sob was let loose involuntarily. Kageyama’s grip on his hand tightened, and, for the first time since he woke up, Shouyou let himself grieve.

(It was funny, that he tried to comfort Kageyama, and yet he was the one being comforted instead.)

(It was even funnier that the grey in Kageyama’s colors faded under his tears, as if acknowledging his own loss meant that Kageyama could move on with his.)

(Because he might have loss his spot on the court, but Kageyama had lost a teammate and almost lost a friend.)

///

The first time he saw Yachi after her surgery, his breath was literally taken away.

He wasn’t like Tsukishima, who was so sneaky the nurses never saw him leaving, or Yamaguchi, who managed to guilt them with his puppy eyes of _please can I go visit my friend pretty please -_ . So he had to wait for official permission, _ugh_ , to visit.

And he’s glad he did, for her colors, even muted and tinged with grey, were _stunning_.

Pastel purple and pinks and bright oranges swirled in front of his eyes. His hands spazzed on the breaks of his wheelchair, heart in his throat.

Yachi was stunning on the best of days, but with those colors, she was practically glowing in her otherworldliness.

For the first time, Shouyou was thankful for the colors.

“How are you doing?” Yachi smiled weakly at his question, about half a dozen IVs in her arms and the fever sticking the bangs of her hair to her forehead.

“Tired,” She rasped, her face brightening slightly as he wheeled closer and took her hand in his, mindful of the needles taped in all along her elbow. “Dizzy.”

He hummed sympathetically. “That’s the fever all right. Your nurse said it’s going down though, so you’ll be out of here in a couple days.”

Yachi just hummed, idly playing with his fingertips, quiet and solemn. “We’re sticking around, you know.” She said out of the blue, her voice hoarse but steady. “We’re not going back to Japan without you.”

Shouyou blinked wet eyes. And then laughed, just the slightest bit. “I’m pretty sure Tsukishima’s older brother is gonna pick him up and force him back to the airport, at this rate, never mind Yamaguchi’s dad. I don’t think Yamaguchi’s been alone once since he woke up.”

Yachi snorted, her eyes rolling back to stare at the ceiling. “Then Kei-kun will probably scratch Akiteru-kun like a cat and run back here to stay until you’re released, and Tadashi would wheel himself back before letting his dad do anything for him he doesn’t want to do. They’re more stubborn than you give them credit for.”

Neither of them mentioned Kageyama's family. While Yachi’s mother had been lingering in and out of the hotel room, constantly arguing with her bosses that no, _I am not heading back until my daughter is back home after surviving a plane crash for God’s sake!_ , and Shouyou himself had been bombarded with affection from his mother and Natsu, Kageyama never even made a phone call home.

“We’ll wait.” She affirmed again, nodding almost to herself. “We’ll always wait for you, Shouyou.”

///

And indeed they did. Yamaguchi was released later that week, affectionately bickering with his dad as he was wheeled out into the waiting room. Shouyou was waiting in his own chair, Yachi crammed next to him as physically close as their chairs would allow. And if that wasn’t enough, she had kidnapped one of hands and _refused_ to let go.

“Kageyama’s sharing with Tsukishima and his family, back at the hotel, and I am both envious and not that they’re staying together. Envious, because after sharing a single hotel room with four other people for a month it gets kinda quiet - no offence, papa - but also not, because I’m glad for the break in their arguing.” Yamaguchi drolled dryly as his dad pushed him towards the two of them, making a lopsided triangle with their wheelchairs. Ha, maybe they should make a club for it.

The older Tsukishima, who was standing next to his pouting younger brother with a fond smile on his face, nodded his head so quickly Shouyou was half afraid something would break. “Tell me about it, the two of them woke me up arguing over who could get the orange toothbrush I bought at the store.”

Even Shouyou felt exasperated, giving the two shamed boys his best mock glare. “C’mon guys, really?”

Kageyama crossed his arms. “Orange is obviously the best color.”

Shouyou squaked. “That’s not what you said about my hair!”

“You’re hair is obnoxious.” Kageyama countered, leaning over his chair to mess with his hair, ignoring his ignantant squak. “I could spot you in a crowd any day of the week - that’s not a good thing.”

“Now, now,” Yachi waved her hands, smiling gently. “Let’s not fight on Tadashi’s big day, alright?”

Yamaguchi’s dad frowned darkly at her, the muted greens and brown spoiling almost black, but it quickly brightened back into a smile when Yamaguchi turned to face him as he chatted about his departure. Shouyou bit his lip at that, glancing around to see if anyone else noticed. Yachi was deep in conversation with Kageyama - something about Harajuku fashion and his hair? - while the Tsukishima family was laughing amongst themselves with Yachi’s and Shouyou’s own mother.

All but one. His blond friend spared him a glance, looking meaningfully between Yamaguchi’s dad and Yachi before mouthing a ‘talk later’.

The gross feeling in his stomach didn’t fade, but it settled enough for him to smile his way through the rest of his goodbyes until he was ushered back to his room by his nurse.

///

“Yamaguchi’s dad is trying to pressure Yamaguchi to drop out of university.” Tsukishima explained a day later, his arms crossed over his chest and squinting heavily through his ill fitting glasses.

“What - why?” Shouyou dropped the IV he was fiddling with, turning to face Tsukishima fully and trying to ignore the intense itchiness in his veins that has been plaguing him all day.

Tsukishima just scowled darkly, bumblebee yellow slashed with spilled ink. “Wants him to take over the bookstore, ha, more like he wants him back in a protective bubble for the rest of his life. Plane crash scared him real bad, can’t blame him really, but Yamaguchi’s been talking about wanting to help people forever. The walls of the hotel are pretty thin, I can hear them arguing at night. The dick hates all of us - because obviously we’re the reason the plane’s engine suffered a mechanical failure midair - and Yachi calling us all by our first names is a no-go in his book.”

Shouyou perked up. “She is?”

“You haven’t noticed?” Tsukishima asked dryly, propping his elbow up on the thin mattress and letting his chin rest in his hand. “Ever since the crash she’s been using our first names, not that any of us mind really. She’s spooked too, even if she hides it better.”

“Maybe I should call you -”

“No.”

He pouted. “Oh, alright. But seriously, Yamaguchi’s dad is such a prick. The last thing any of us need is more stress right now.”

Tsukishima eyed him for a long moment, stripes of black fading slightly to an off shade grey. “You’re more perceptive than I thought you would be, shrimp.”

Shouyou bristled. “I’m not that short! And what about you, hmm, I see those dark bags of yours, have you been sleeping at _all_?”

“A little.” Tsukishima glanced away from him, running his free hand through his hair tiredly. “I’ve been having nightmares lately, that’s all.”

His heart panged. “Oh, I’m sorry. Is it… Is it about the, you know?”

To his surprise, Tsukishima shook his head no. “That’s the thing - don’t tell anyone about this - but they’ve all been about a bunch of things that eventually happen. Ever since the crash, I’ve been pretty much living in deja vu land. Things like Yachi having to lose a kidney and Yamaguchi’s argument with his dad - those are all things I dream about before they happen.”

Shouyou’s mouth was a perfect ‘O’ shape. “Wow…that’s…Prophetic dreams, maybe? I, uh, actually, my vision’s been a bit wonky since the, you know, I keep seeing color when there should be none.”

Tsukishima sent him a sharp look. “Color? Like what?”

He made a ‘so-so’ motion with his hand. “Like around people’s heads, I keep seeing splashes of colors. You’re really bright yellow, Kageyama’s all these shades of blue and purple, Yamaguchi’s green and gold, Yachi’s pink and orange. And I think they…change, from people’s emotions.”

Tsukishima laughed, harsh and bitter. “Look at us, survived a plane crash only to have weird ass powers, huh?”

“Do you…” Shouyou hesitated. “Think the others…?”

“I don’t know, Hinata.” He shook his head. “I don’t know.”

///

Yachi was released two days later, and once they finished weaning him off the morphine (which made him about ten times more grumpier and nauseated than usual) he was released from critical care to be transferred to outpatient in Japan.

He was expecting his friends to be waiting for him. He wasn’t expecting the media too as well.

“They’ve been harassing us all morning.” There were bags underneath Yachi’s eyes, and while she was walking under her own power again, she was hunched over her stomach, arms braced around herself. Unlike him, she was allergic to most pain medications besides the weak over the counter stuff, so this past week had been hell for her. “I guess your release was leaked somehow.”

Shouyou swallowed. His hair was slicked to his head with all the gross fluids he was leaking out, and his muscles kept trembling uncomfortably. God, his leg was _killing_ him. Fuck withdrawals. “Greaaaaaat.”

He chanced a glance over to the see through doors, and was nearly blinded by another round of camera flashes.

“Can we go through the back, maybe?” Yamaguchi bit his lip anxiously, alternating between tapping his foot and tapping his nails on the front desk.

The staff member looked between all of them (which was really just the five of them, as his mom and Natsu had gone ahead to wait in the car after several hesitant reassurances that they would find a way through) before nodding their head slowly. “You can, you just have to leave the wheelchair here.”

Shouyou turned to look at Tsukishima seriously. “You’re carrying me.”

Tsukishima rolled his eyes, but didn’t protest. He was the only one who was in any shape to carry him, anyhow.

Kageyama ended up being the one to push him away from the waiting room and back into the halls, following another orderly who spoke hesitant Japanese to them and waved towards another blank door.

“On the count of three, we’re running, got it?” Kageyama had his ‘game’ face on, the one he wore right before he hit an untouchable serve, and Shouyou had to blink away the sudden urge to cry.

“Don’t tell me what to do, King.” Tsukishima kneeled in front of him regardless. Shouyou shifted forward, looping his arms around Tsukishima’s neck.

“Three,” Kageyama braced himself, sharing quick high fives with Yamaguchi and Yachi. “Two,” Yamaguchi jumped in place, eyeing the door in front of him with a wild smirk that screamed he was probably going to have a rare moment of recklessness, which last time had him calling Tsukishima’s dad for bail money, as Tsukishima himself was still unconscious from a mean right hook on the floor of some backwater Scottish town’s holding cell. “One,” Tsukishima lifted to a stand, his hands braced under Shouyou’s knees.

“Go!”

Shouyou let out a wild whoop as Yamaguchi actually fucking kicked the door open, bursting out of the door and towards the parking lot. They skimmed the edges of the mob of reporters, laughing like mad men as a few of them turned to face them with wide mouths.

“It’s like we’re on the run from the cops!” Yachi giggled, easily keeping pace alongside Tsukishima’s wide strides. Kageyama was running like it was a race - and beating everyone else while at it -, Yamaguchi a little behind him with his hands in the air.

“I sure hope not,” Tsukishima grunted, shifting Shouyou higher on his back. “Otherwise we would be caught within like two seconds, I’m pretty sure a toddler could keep up with us.”

“Live a little, Tsukki!” Yamaguchi shouted back, smiling from practically ear to his ear.

And Shouyou? For the first time since the plane crash, Shouyou let himself close his eyes and _laugh_.

(They tumbled together in the car, laughing at his mom to hit the gas, not even waiting to buckle in before kicking off from the curve, leaving a crowd of flabbergasted reporters behind them.)

(Maybe, just maybe, they would be okay.)

///

Shouyou blinked at the ceiling. The hotel room was quiet.

He could hear his mother sleeping in the other bed, Natsu’s snores from the pull out couch.

It was quiet.

Kageyama snored like a bell horn. Yachi was a surprisingly clingy sleeper. Tsukishima talked in his sleep. Yamaguchi usually ended up upside down in the middle of the night.

It was quiet. Faintly, he thought he could hear people screaming.

( _The screams of the people around them finding corpses instead of family and friends._ )

Silently, Shouyou opened his brand new phone, squinting at the burst of bright light. The original had smashed beyond belief in the crash, shattered into pieces along with his leg. His mom bought him one while he was still in the hospital, more for her own sake than his.

He opened his messenger app, flicking through his recent messages until he reached his group chat.

 **Smollgiant** : anyone up?

He didn’t wait long.

 **JellyJellyFishyTime** : I’m up

A beat.

 **Tropicanasparkling** : Reluctantly.

 **JellyJellyFishyTime** : C’mon Tsukki, show a little more excitement!

 **Tropicanasparkling** : No.

 **Y’all’d’ve** : Guys it’s like 2 am

 **Smollgiant** : it just means that it’s 8 am in japan

 **Tropicanasparkling** : I’m actually impressed, the idiot does know his time zones.

 **Smollgiant** : shut it!!!

 **Y’all’d’ve** : Guys please

 **JellyJellyFishyTime** : Is Kageyama-kun asleep still?

 **Tropicanasparkling** : Now he isn’t.

 **Smollgiant** : that’s so ominous what did you do

 **Milk** : i hate all of you.

 **Milk** : he chucked his charger at me and told me that he wasn’t going to suffer alone.

 **Milk** : so why are we all awake at 2 am

 **Smollgiant** : i couldn’t sleep

 **Smollgiant** : it’s too quiet

The chat was silent for a few torturous moments.

 **Y’all’d’ve** : I hear ya

 **JellyJellyFishyTime** : Me too

 **Tropicanasparkling** : Once again, reluctantly.

 **Milk** : actually.

 **Milk** : there’s a video i watch when i can’t sleep.

 **Milk** : **[link]**

Shouyou eyed if for a long moment, before finally clicking on the link, glad for the fact that he already had headphones in.

The link brought him to what looked like some video game soundtrack, and he squinted his eyes warily. But no, it wasn’t a boss battle music or anything else he would have expected from Kageyama. Instead, it was a rather soothing melody, something that almost sounded like, perhaps, _home_.

Shouyou closed his eyes, and let the music drown out the rest of his worries.

///

Despite having to fight off several panic attacks and at one point even breaking out into tears when they hit turbulence, the plane landed safety in Japan. Shouyou wasn’t the only bawling on the carpeted floors when they arrived, though.

He leaned his forehead against Yachi’s, both of their cheeks streaked with tears. Yamaguchi was curled into Kageyama’s lap, his quiet hitched sobs occasionally escaping him, while Kageyama himself was soaking Tsukishima’s shoulder with his own tears.

They were home.

///

Being in his childhood home again felt like a dream. Hazy and unreal.

The others would all be heading to Tokyo next week, off to their separate colleges and futures. And Shouyou was stuck.

“What do you want to do now?” His mother had asked him the first night. He had only shaked his head mutedly, and she had sighed, handing over two different pamphlets to him.

Physical therapy. Either in Miyagi, or Tokyo. Above all, she was giving him the choice, even if she couldn’t afford to send him to college in Tokyo without a sports scholarship.

His mom was honestly the best.

Natsu had her own room, but it seemed she was determined to practically move in with him, clearing out one of his drawers while he was sleeping to put her own clothes in. She even offered to push his wheelchair around, skinny as she may be, and Shouyou felt all the more flattered for it.

It all came to a head, two days before all his friends left for Tokyo. Most of the previous week had been spent almost in a daze, drifting from room to room, idly playing with the fabric of his shorts. Natsu always distracted him whenever his dark thoughts became a little too much, but there was only so much a nine year old could do.

Lifting his head from another drift he had fallen into ( _screaming/smell of smoke/so much blood -_ ) he smiled weakly at his mom, who had braced herself against his door frame with a soft smile.

“Good, you’re dressed.” She jerked a thumb over her shoulder. “You have some guests outside waiting for you.”

He raised an eyebrow, but she only smirked. Alrighty then.

Carefully wheeling himself around his mom, he pushed himself through the living room and towards the front door, only opening it once he got a firm hold on the handle.

The car idling in front of his house honked.

Yamaguchi propped his head out the window, Yachi quickly following from the backseat. “Get in loser, we’re going shopping!”

Shouyou stared, barely noticing Kageyama exiting out of the car from the other side and making his way towards him. “I…uh…what?”

Kageyama stopped in front of him, hands braced on his hips with a smirk that would fit better on a movie villain and not a teenage boy. “Told you we would get an apartment together.”

He glanced back into the house at his mom, who only spared him a fond glance before grabbing the laundry basket and disappearing deeper into the house. “But…my sports scholarship…”

To his surprise, Kageyama just scowled. And he has a nasty scowl. “Do you honestly think any of us care about that? You can literally be a freeloader and do no chores and none of us would care - we’re getting an apartment together, whether you like it or not. And I am fully prepared to drag you with me to Tokyo, don’t think I won’t.”

From still leaning out the window, Yamaguchi shared glances with Yachi before wiggling his eyebrows, murmuring something that sounded suspiciously like ‘kinky’.

“Wow,” Shouyou muttered. “You know, I was going to get all teary eyed and emotional, but you sound like a serial killer and I’m seriously debating locking my door now.”

Kageyama narrowed his eyes. Then: “Hinata-san, I’m kidnapping your son!”

His mom, in an act of absolute betrayal, didn’t even bother poking her head around the corner. “Just return him by sundown!”

It wasn’t even noon yet. He was going to die, wasn’t he.

A shark like grin spread over Kageyama’s face, and before he could even open his mouth to protest he was being plucked out of his seat like a baby bird and spun around towards the car. “Someone get the chair!”

“On it!” Yachi _you son of a bitch_ -

Shouyou yelped as he was practically hurled into the backseat, but somehow his leg was barely disturbed while the rest of his body ached from the rough landing. (It was somehow intentional, he just knew it. He wasn’t sure whether to be mad or not.) Kageyama roughly pushed him over, and then he head the sound of the trunk slamming shut before Yachi climbed in on the other side of him.

Tsukishima, who shared a glance with him from the rearview mirror, didn’t even have the balls to look guilty.

“Kidnapping is a go!” Yachi cheered as they gently took off from the curve, sharing high fives with Kageyama. Yamaguchi finally popped his head in from hanging out the window, a practically evil grin on his face

“Ha!” He blinked as Yamaguchi turned in his seat to point at him. “You’re our bitch now!”

Shouyou blinked again.

“I’m on the good stuff right now.” Yamaguchi nodded his head thoughtfully to literally no one, before turning back around to sit properly in the passenger seat. “Bet you’re jealous.”

He was. God, he was so so, so jealous. But…

“That just means you’re gonna suffer more for this later.” Shouyou leaned back in his seat, deciding to relish in his victory while it lasted.

Yamaguchi paled. “That’s not true, right Tsukki? Hitoka-chan? My fellow Yama?”

Everyone wisely decided not to answer, a smile as sweet and slow as the sunrise spreading across Shouyou’s face, Yamaguchi’s pained wails music to his ears.

“You’re a sadist.” Yachi whispered in his ear.

Shouyou just smirked back. “My leg shattered into twelve pieces, four of them were compound fractures, and I’m dealing with over the counter medication because our health insurance sucks. Yeah, I’m feeling pretty damn sadistic right now.”

Kageyama just patted his shoulder with a slightly disturbed expression on his face. “Remind me to never get on your bad side. Ever.”

///

“You had a good time?” His mom asked him later that night, stealing his own desk chair to sit down, not that he could use it though.

Shouyou nodded his head distractingly, folding the clothes they had bought on their shopping trip to Sendai absently. While out, they had stopped at one of those home goods stores, the one who sell pretty much everything you would need in a house, and between the five of them he was pretty sure that they gave all the employees mental scars.

Damn, he’s too broke to pay for his own therapy, nevermind theirs. Oh well.

“You made up your mind, then?” She jerked his chin at the pile of folded clothes on his bed, and for the first time he noticed just how vibrantly _red_ his mother’s color was.

He held onto his knees, meeting his mother’s eyes with an old sense of determination, something he thought he lost among the sounds of metal tearing apart around him.

“I’m going to Tokyo.” He said as steadily as he could manage. “I don’t know what I’ll do there - probably at least get a part time job to help pay the rent, but. They’re there.”

His mom smiled, leaning over to place her own hand over his. “I figured as much. They’re your strings, aren’t they?”

“Mom!” He protested with a laugh, but he took her hand in his regardless. “We’re barely out of high school, and besides soulmates don’t exist!”

She smiled a bit wistifully at him. “I didn’t think so either, until I realized I was pregnant with you.”

He immediately straightened up. “You mean…my dad?”

HIs mom didn’t talk much about his dad, if at all. He gathered pieces, faint memories of someone holding his hands high above his head and a warm smile as he asked for _just one more story, please_.

“We weren’t in love, not in the traditional sense.” Her lips tightened, and he almost wanted to ask her to stop, if the memories were too painful. But. “He was my best friend, and I was his. I wanted kids but didn’t want to settle down, and he was just happy to remain my best friend throughout it all.”

“I figured it out, when I was pregnant with you. Love exists in many different forms, Shouyou. I just hope you never have to lose it to understand what it is.”

Bloody, beautiful rose colors bloomed in the air around her, edged in purples and an undercurrent of dark blue. “Don’t lose this chance, understand?”

It took a moment, but he grinned. “Wouldn’t dream of it!”

She smiled, soft and genuine. “Suitcase is in the hallway closet. I’ll break the news to Natsu later, so enjoy your peace while it lasts.”

///

Natsu didn’t say anything as they waited on the curve for Tsukishima to drive up. Yamaguchi, Kageyama, and Yachi had all hitched a ride in Yamaguchi’s dad’s car the day before up to Tokyo, but the Tsukishima’s were just wealthy enough to buy their youngest son his own car. Shouyou kinda wanted to egg their house now, just for having _that_ much money. How often did Tsukishima even use the car - the last week not counting due to everyone being _out of their freaking minds_ \- ?

“I’m gonna miss you,” She said out of the blue, her eyes fixed determinedly on the horizon line. “But I get why. It’s like Hiromi-kun following me all around the playground, even if he’s too short and keeps falling down. I don’t like Hiromi-kun though, he smells weird, but your friends are nice.”

While torn between being flattered that his little sister was trying to comfort him and big brother instinct running rampage that was demanding he go kick some primary schoolers ass, he eventually settled at an awkward “Thank you?”

She nodded, once, and that was that until Shouyou heard the familiar rumble of a slightly too fast car kicking up the steep country roads up the mountain he lived in. It was only then she turned to face him, and he could see the wet sheen in her eyes.

“Don’t you dare go away like the Granny down the street again. Ma cried, and I promised to kick anyone’s butt who made her cry, but I don’t really wanna kick your butt, so just don’t do it again and say sorry.”

He doesn’t know why, but he laughed.

Shouyou watched her retreating form as he was helped into Tsukishima’s car, the speck of red hair with teal shadows around her growing more and more smaller with every moment the car sped in the opposite direction of his little sister, who was much too smart and perceptive for her age.

“Is this the last time you think I’ll see them?” It was both a genuine scared question from the remains of trauma and a poke at Tsukishima’s powers.

Tsukishima barely glanced at him before turning back to the road, tapping a steady beat against the wheel along to the quiet music playing in the background. “Hmm, I’m sure you’ll meet them again soon. They _are_ your family members, nothing less than an apocalyptic strike could put them down for long.”

Shouyou smiled, his eyes skittering along the horizon back towards the distant lights, blinking in and out to the tempo of the stars. “Thanks, Kei.”

A beat. “No problem, Shouyou.”

///

“I really want a milkshake right now,” Yamaguchi panted from where he was sprawled against the cool wood floors.

Shouyou moaned from where his cheek was pressed against the floor, barely pausing from yet _another_ sneeze from all the dust. God, Tokyo was _melting_ in the summer.

“You two had it easy,” Kageyama chimed in, his forehead pressed against the oven door. “You two didn’t have to move furniture all day.”

“Fractured ribs.” “Broken leg.”

Kageyama made a shushing wave with his hand and went back to mind melding with their electronics or whatever his intense stare was for.

The apartment had literally no furniture, except for the stray box or volleyball equipment. Yachi was back to being her angel self and hanging up her own clothes in one of the bedrooms, while Shouyou could hear Tsukishima talking on the phone in the other room.

“-Oh for god’s sake, Akiteru, leave me the _fuck_ alone -” Yeah, not getting into that. Shouyou carefully adjusted his leg before rolling slightly to the left, just enough that he was sprawled on top of Yamaguchi.

And then stopped.

“Geez, Gucci!” He startled, crawling further on top of Yamaguchi until their fronts were pressed together, being mindful to press most of his weight on his elbows so as not to cause Yamaguchi pain. “How are you hot? You’re more frozen than an iceberg!”

It was true. Yamaguchi was practically radiating cold, and while it was like laying on top of a living icebox, it was also a bit concerning. He didn’t think humans could actually be this cold, the spot where his fingers were pressed to Yamaguchi’s bare skin was practically burning, it was so cold.

Yamaguchi stiffened underneath him. “I…uh…have to go pee.” His voice was shaking.

Shouyou frowned, but rolled off him all the same. Yamaguchi ran out of the living room/kitchen combo like the devil himself was on his ass, and Shouyou could only stare after him befuddled.

He…couldn’t be… right?

///

“No.” Was the first thing out of Tsukishima’s mouth when Shouyou rolled out the poster.

He pouted. “Cmon, isn’t it kind of cool? Having superpowers and all? That’s why we should make a club for it!”

“I repeat: this is probably the opposite of cool, you try having vivid dreams every night and waking up in a cold sweat - is that Yamaguchi’s name I see?” Tsukishima broke off, squinting through his brand new glasses at the hand made poster he spent over an hour on. “What makes you think he has powers?”

“He’s really cold, like I was trying to glomp a cuddle out of him and I actually think he burnt me.” Shouyou held out his hands towards Tsukishima, tolerating dully the way his fingers were bent this way and that. Sure enough, wherever his skin touched Yamaguchi’s, his coloring shifted to an off shade of red, the skin tightened in the oddest mimication of burns.

Tsukishima stared for a long moment at his hands like they personally betrayed him, which wouldn’t be the first time (they don’t talk about the third year going away party when they were second years, the mere memory of it making him shudder) but felt a bit misfitting in this particular moment.

“You sure?” Tsukishima swallowed nervously, his eyes flicking back between his hands and the poster in between them.

“I mean - I can’t say for sure unless we corner him to ask him, but I have a pretty big hunch, and you know -”

“Your hunches are usually right.” Tsukishima finished for him. Then he sighed, tipping his head back to stare at the ceiling for a long moment. “God, I hate this.”

Shouyou frowned. “About the dreams, are you okay?”

Tsukishima just shrugged, but after glaring him into submission for a solid forty two seconds, the blond eventually caved. “It’s not - bad. Really. I don’t really dream of events specifically or conversations, just a general gist of how the next day is going to go, or sometimes things that feel _farther_ \- it’s complicated.”

He didn’t really understand, but it was one of those things you didn’t have to, you just had to be there. So Shouyou just opened his arms and made a kissy face, and while Tsukishima rolled his eyes at the blatant display, he still curled himself under Shouyou’s chin for a long moment, both people out of their depth holding on to what they had.

///

Cornering Yamaguchi was a lot harder than it sounded.

It had to be pushed off for the next week, neither Shouyou or Tsukishima prepared to deal with the emotional fallout if they were wrong, not while school was just starting. Kageyama was practically gone from sunup to sundown, busy with his own sports scholarship. It never failed to make a pang of envy (and sometimes anger, though he knew it was badly misplaced) shoot through Shouyou’s heart, but only time would heal that. He hoped.

Tsukishima’s classes and Yamaguchi’s were pretty much exclusively morning classes, and they remarked they should be back before two usually. Yachi’s classes were more spread out throughout the day, sometimes ending at noon, sometimes at five in the afternoon.

It just meant that it was quiet in the house.

He busied himself with physical therapy appointments and looking for a job. Unfortunately, a lot of jobs that didn’t require you know, an _education_ , required standing around for hours at a time, something he couldn’t quite manage right now. He applied for multiple places, stuffed his head full of medical knowledge about broken bones and nerve damage, and tried not to cry.

He failed at that last part. It was just -

_I’m following my strings, mama, but sometimes it’s hard to listen to them have what I can’t._

They talked about professors he didn’t know, classes he didn’t understand, inside jokes he would never get. Deep down, he knew they wanted him here with them in Tokyo (had even instigated a kidnapping to get it through his skull that they wanted him around), but it bordered on painful sometimes listening to them, and more often than not he fled to the bedroom he shared with Yamaguchi.

Yachi was across the hall in her own room, by the virtue of everyone agreeing not to emotionally scar her from sharing a room with her, and Yamaguchi and Shouyou had their own beds by the fact that sleeping on the floor is not conductive to the healing of said broken bones. Tsukishima slept in the living room on the pull out couch, while Kageyama shoved a mattress in one of their too big linen closets and seemed perfectly content to have a bed, which never failed to make him tear up and/or want to commit homicide.

It was awkward, but they made due.

It was on the fourth day of the silence of the apartment forcing him to stumble on brand new crutches into the busy streets of Tokyo that he finally found it.

Lost in thought, he only just noticed the university (the one he was supposed to go to, a voice whispered in his mind) when he was passing by it.

Something soured in his gut, and without thinking further about it, he turned on his heel and back the way he came. He hated this. He hated himself _for_ this.

In his rush to get out of the way, away from where he had dreams, where he had spent hours upon hours looking up photos and dorm rooms and classes - he overextended the next ‘click’ of his crutches and toppled to the cement.

City living, huh, he mused to himself as people made a point of stepping around him, not even bothering to look up from their phones or even ask him if he’s alright.

Several pain filled moment passed before he finally gave in and stumbled his way back to his feet, nearly losing one of his crutches under the wave of trampling feet before finally someone took pity on him stepped _around_ the crutch instead of just over it. He murmured a quick thanks, leaning one hand against the wall behind him for balance as he struggled to get his feet under him.

A sign caught his eye. _Hiring_.

His eyes drifted over the storefront of whatever this place was and - -

No way. A childcare center?

He couldn’t work there - sure, apparently he was good with kids, but to make a living out of it?

But - his feet stumbled in anyhow.

The entry room was empty, but faintly he could hear the sounds of chatter and something that sounded like a soft radio playing music in the background. Checking the time high above the desk’s wall, he shrugged and decided to just take a seat in one of the plastic chairs, his leg still twinging every now and then. He still had time before Tsukishima and Yamaguchi came home - they were planning to watch a marvel movie while eating lunch together.

He didn’t wait long. The sounds of rapid footsteps - and crying - grew closer every second, until finally the door was flung open by a rather short (and that’s saying something considering his own height) woman with a wailing toddler on her hip.

“Parent?” She inquired bluntly, and then discarded it quickly, shifting the toddler from her hip to her hands. “You know what, I don’t care, hold her while I go separate the twins. Again.”

Then he had an armful of a fussy toddler, and the short lady was gone with a whirlwind.

Shouyou stared at the toddler.

The toddler stared back. And started to scrunch up their nose. And squint their eyes. They were going to cry, weren’t they.

One tiny, tiny whimper made it out, and Shouyou panicked. Rocking the toddler softly, he started to hum frantically. When that didn’t work, soft words stated escaping his mouth, his hand rubbing soothingly along their back.

“Hey hey, don’t cry, please don’t cry it’s okay, you’re okay -” His babble was cut off as the toddler opened his mouth to scream and oh god if the baby started crying he was going to start crying too - “ _Please don’t cry._ ”

Their mouth closed with a quiet click.

The two of them stared at each other.

What...what did he just do? Did he just order the baby to stop, and they did? The milky blue around them seemed to become more vibrant in the silence, but he could barely see it past his own panic.

“Wow, you got them to stop crying, they’ve been fussy all day. I was this close to calling it a day and letting them cry it out.” The woman’s voice jerked him out of his thoughts, and Shouyou’s head lifted to regard her for a long moment. She reminded him almost of his mother, if his mother was shorter than him with frown lines and greying hair tied back so tightly it reminded him of Asahi-san.

The woman watched him for a long moment, not even seeming to mind the small children pulling at her clothes or chewing on her hair. “What’s your name?” She asked, her voice sharp, but somehow remaining soft at the same time, lacking the harshness he was expecting.

He straightened up. “Hinata. Hinata Shouyou.”

“Iwasaki Makoto.” Iwasaki nodded her head. “I run this place, my part time quit in March after getting his degree, so I’m looking to hire.”

“I saw.” He fiddled with the crutches in his lap. “I wanted to ask about the for hire sign out front.”

Iwasaki pinched her lips, eyeing him for another long moment. “Get here at six to help me open up, place opens at seven, parents usually start flocking in at seven thirty. You’ll be charge of certain activities, but I’d ground you to floor duties until you can walk around on your own.” She sent a pointed look at his crutches. “Keep an eye on the older kids during lunch while I tend to the younger ones, break up any fights you see. Certain activities are at certain times, it’s the same every week but check the calendar on the wall if you’re confused, can’t miss it.”

Wow, that was…a lot. Iwasaki watched him for another long moment, before finally sighing and seeming to lose some of her tension. “I would have to do a background check first, make sure you’re not some serial killer, but if everything checks out you start on Monday. Now give me your information and get out here, nap time is in twenty minutes.”

///

Sunday night, his phone pinged from an unknown number.

 **UNKNOWN** : Don’t be late or you’ll be fired faster than you can blink.

 **Iwasaki-san** : Bring lunch, and coffee. You’re going to need it.

///

Working at a daycare wasn’t…that bad actually. It was just like Iwasaki said, at six they set the place up, turning on the heat and all necessary lights, kickstarting the humidifier in some rooms while opening windows in others.

Several parents stopped to idly chat with him, curious about the new hired help. He learned through them that several of these children had been going here for years, some of them even in the early years of primary school. He spent several minutes chatting (gossiping) with them before Iwasaki yelled at him to get to work. The parents didn’t even look angry when he hurriedly dismissed himself to rush over to Iwasaki, most of them even outright laughing at his fluster.

‘Grounded to floor duty’ meant literally that. He sat his ass on the ground, had a toddler shoved into his arms, and then Iwasaki was gone again like a hurricane, breaking apart arguments and encouraging the quiet children who lingered at the edges of the room to join in.

Shouyou glanced down at the baby in his arms, finding himself instinctively starting to rock them, like he was ten years old and holding Natsu for the first time again.

It was the same baby from yesterday, he realized dimly, pulling his crutches out of the way without even looking from a too curious toddler, the one who netted him his job.

“Their name is Yuuki.” Iwasaki explained, startling him with a physical jolt out of his thoughts. “Here, hold out your free arm.”

He did what he was told, wincing slightly as Iwasaki ran the cool pad of a marker along his inner arm. After she was done, beckoned away by another protesting cry, Shouyou stared at the certain arrangement of kanji mocking him.

“Gentle hope, huh.” His eyes flicked over to the toddler who was using his other arm as a head rest, the rest of their body flailing towards his bright hair. He let them tug at his hair for a moment more, before withdrawing back to look at the calendar on the wall. Iwasaki was right, it was literally impossible to miss it.

Well - he had a day to try and settle into this new job, and hopefully be able to keep it.

(He found out he’s actually rather good at the storytelling voice, and with an audience of enraptured children, Shouyou smiles and puts on a good show once more.)

(After the last of the children have been picked up by their parents, Iwasaki turned to look up him, her face carefully blank. “Don’t be late tomorrow.”

He stood up straighter, a full on beam already settling on his face. “You mean…?”

She scowled harder. “Don’t be late.” And then slammed the front door between them shut.)

///

Shouyou eyed the carriage.

It was a totally normal grocery run, except you know, it was an hour before closing and four college kids and one almost freeloader just realized the only thing in the fridge was half a jar of mayonnaise and syrup so old it refused to unstick from the sides and had a certain jelly like quality to it, one of the others no doubt being sacked with a family heirloom.

Yeah, no one could take care of themself, evidently.

Slumping forward, he carefully tested his weight on his cast. Sure, he wasn’t supposed to, but a few moments wouldn’t kill him. And besides, he wanted something to distract him from the argument brewing right behind him.

No, it wasn’t anything between any of them. Rather…

“Akiteru, _please_ , you’re fucking smothering me, I’m an adult I can take care of myself -” Oh yeah, carriage.

Carefully, he scooted over to Yachi’s side, elbowing her side casually. “Hey, what do you say we crawl in those carriages and make the others push us around.” He whispered quietly, and he knew he had her the instant her eyes lit up playfully.

He passed her his crutches momentarily, bracing himself on the metal edge before letting his body _slide_. He promptly geeked out the moment he was sitting comfortably, sharing high fives with Yachi before she handed off his crutches to him, sliding right next to him moments afterwards.

Yamaguchi and Kageyama were off in there own world, no doubt trying to distract Kageyama from the yelling. Tsukishima had already removed himself as far as he could while still remaining in eye sight, but there was only so far you could go, and well, voices traveled.

 **AnActualExpresso** : look over

Yamaguchi was the first to open his phone, and his gobsmacked expression when he glanced over and he caught sight of Yachi and Shouyou just chilling in a carriage had both of them spiraling into hysterics.

Some of the tension seemed to leave Kageyama as he loudly snorted, strolling over to meet them. “What are you all up to?” He tilted his head, crossing his arms right over Shouyou’s knees and using them as his personal leaning post.

Shouyou playfully kicked him, and Kageyama reacted by trying to bite him, like a stray dog. “Trying to cheer you up, and maybe actually get some shopping down while Tsukishima finishes arguing with his stupid older brother.”

Kageyama watched him for a long moment. “Buy me whole milk, not that gross skim kind, and we have a deal.”

They traded high fives, and three pairs of intense eyes fixed themselves on Yamaguchi.

He raised his hands. “I know when I’m beat. Let’s do this, I guess.”

Kageyama didn’t waste any time, nearly knocking Yamaguchi aside to step up. “Bet you I can carriage surf for twenty seconds.”

Shouyou scoffed. “Bet you won’t last more than ten.”

“You sure this is the place to do this?” Yachi giggled behind her hands, but bless her little heart she was trying her best to look stern with them.

“Oh Yacchan,” Shouyou stretched out an arm for her, and she dived under it with an excited grin for them to commence a cuddle fest, something both of them appreciated as very touch-oriented people. “What place is better than this?”

Right as Kageyama started the countdown for the take off (Yamaguchi had accepted his fate in gripping at the back of the carriage with his feet barely balancing on the tray underneath), Shouyou’s eyes caught with Tsukishima’s.

“Yeah, I’m fine Akiteru.” Tsukishima swallowed, and sent him a quick awkward smirk. “Just - can you trust me?”

Silence, and then: “Thank you, Aki-nii.”

He never heard the rest of the conversation, as Kageyama reached the end of his countdown, sending them zooming off into the depths of the store with Yamaguchi’s panicked screaming as the perfect OST to this adventure.

But when Tsukishima joined them several minutes later, bumblebee yellow bursted with shades of light pinks and rippling dark gold streaks, he only sighed and told them to put the numerous milk cartons back into the freezer.

///

“Don’t make me sing Frozen, because honestly, nobody wants that.”

Yamaguchi, from where he was wrapped like a burrito by what seemed like thousands of blankets, snorted.

It was a Tuesday, a week after he got his job at the daycare. While coming home everyday covered in paint and whatever ever else kids could throw at him wasn’t fun, he had to admit there was some joy in making a crabby baby smile or seeing a little child get so excited in seeking his approval.

Things had been great, until they weren’t.

Shouyou shared dismayed glances with Tsukishima. Yamaguchi’s been in bed all day, refusing to go to classes or even talk to them.

“C’mon, Gucci.” Shouyou murmured, patting what he guessed was Yamaguchi’s back. Please don’t let it be his crotch please don’t let it be his crotch - “You can talk to us, I promised.”

Yamaguchi shrugged, his barely seen greens muffled and trampled over like mud. “Don’t wanna talk about it.” He mumbled, his shoulders hunching in.

“That’s it,” Shouyou sniffed playfully, scooting himself further into the twin bed. “Do you wanna build a snowman?”

If his singing was horribly off key and borderline painful to his own ears, then it must have been agony to Yamaguchi’s. Tsukishima winced from where he was standing in the doorway, looking like he was in the seventh level of hell, while Yamaguchi let out an audible moan.

“Please stop,” Yamaguchi cried, finally pulling the blankets off and turning to face Shouyou. His eyes were rimmed red, his cheeks flushed. “Can’t you just leave me alone?”

Shouyou shook his head with a soft smile. “No can do, I’m not gonna let you hide your problems away.”

He went to grab Yamaguchi’s hand, but blinked as Yamaguchi yelped and pulled his hand back before Shouyou could even touch him.

“Don’t touch me!”

Both of them paused, staring blankly at Yamaguchi, who was curled up cradling his hand protectively.

“Yamaguchi…?” Tsukishima trailed off, taking a hesitant step inside the room. “Talk to us, Tadashi.”

That broke the dam. Yamaguchi sniffled, a quiet little thing, but then more tears started budding quickly, sliding down his face between heaving gulps of air.

“I can’t stop it -!” Yamaguchi wailed, thrusting his hands in front of him. “I-I’m s-so warm and yet -“

Shouyou’s eyes widened as he finally saw what Yamaguchi was talking about.

Ice. Ice everywhere. Frost covered Yamaguchi’s arms, hidden previously by the countless blankets on top of him. A thin shimmer of frost covered the sheets underneath him, leaking out from where he was sitting like a blood stain.

“Tadashi.” Tsukishima approached slowly, his hands open in front of him. “I promise, you’re okay. You’re not the only one who has freaky powers.”

Yamaguchi’s head snapped up. “You-?”

Tsukishima jerked his chin at Shouyou. “Both of us, actually.”

“I-“ Yamaguchi glanced between both of them, a little more color coming into his greens. “What do you…?”

Tsukishima reached the bed, kneeling down next to Shouyou. “I can’t say for the shorty, but I can see the future in my dreams.”

Shouyou waved his hand in the air. “And I can read people’s moods! And I think maybe some minor mind control? I mean I told a baby not to cry and they stopped crying instantly and that’s giving me some anxiety because babies don’t understand what I’m saying so why did they stop crying?”

Yamaguchi stared. “....Are you okay?”

He let out a deep breath. “Probably not. Can I have a hug?”

The other boy lifted his arms - his frost covered arms - pointedly.

“Give me a hug then, Kei.” Tsukishima sighed at his command, but offered out a hug regardless. This, ladies and gentlemen, is why friendship exists. Free hugs.

“Kei?” Yamaguchi parroted, tilting his head to the side. Shouyou noticed out of the corner of his eye some of the frost melting off his arms, but didn’t comment on it. “When did you start calling each other with your first names?”

Shouyou sat up, wiping his eyes determinedly. “The day we moved to Tokyo, actually, once we figured out how each of our powers worked. Do you want me to call you Tadashi, Elsa 2.0.”

Yamaguchi made a face. “I mean, yeah to the first part, but call me Elsa again and you’ll find yourself with ice cubes in your bed for the rest of the month.”

All three of them startled laughs, and as the last of the ice dripped off Yamaguchi’s arms, Shouyou figured everything would be alright.

///

As it turns out, Yamaguchi isn’t just Elsa 2.0, but also a fire demon from hell.

He’s not joking.

The three of them were scrunched into an old storage classroom that Tsukishima snuck both of them into. Several life like anatomical models were scattered across the room, beady eyes watching them carefully.

“It’s the most privacy we’re gonna get unless we leave the city.” Tsukishima explained with a sigh at both of their questioning looks. “You’re both free for the whole afternoon, correct?”

He nodded hesitantly. “Iwasaki-san has the daycare closed for the next couple days, she’s visiting her sister in Kyoto.”

“I don’t have classes on Thursday afternoons, you know this.” Yamaguchi piped in, shifting another cabinet aside to clear most of the floor.

Tsukishima smirked, tossing a green army bag in the cleared space they made before propping his hands on his hips. “Good. We’re going to spend the afternoon testing our powers limits and seeing where we can go with this.”

Shouyou kneeled to the ground, unzipping the bag warily. Parts of it looked like it was part of a kinky bondage session - long strips of cloth he guessed where supposed to be blindfolds and gags, while others were just bottles of water and bowls.

“Tadashi, you seem to have the most trouble controlling your powers.” Tsukishima stated luntly, making Yamaguchi blush a light frost. “So you’ll go first. Then Shouyou, then me.”

“Wow,” Shouyou elbowed Yamaguchi. “This reminds you of high school or is it just me?”

Yamaguchi sighed almost dreamingly. “Never thought I would see captain Tsukki again.”

Tsukishima ignored both of them, instead ruffling through the bag for the water bottles and bowls. “Well vice-captain Yamaguchi, better start by example.”

The next two hours were spent testing out the reaches of Yamaguchi’s powers. In the end, they discovered that Yamaguchi couldn’t control water itself, but rather that the waves of heat and cold came from _him_.

“I bet I could practice this, make it so only my fingers frost up.” Yamaguchi commented idly, hovering his hand over the bowl. “Now it’s like every time I try my palms get the worse of it, and it goes up my arms and down my chest.”

He was also shirtless, his shirt hanging over a utility sink dripping wet.

“Now try and heat it up.” Tsukishima motioned towards the bowl, and with a slightly wary look Yamaguchi closed his eyes once more.

The ice didn’t change at all for several moments, but finally after several minutes of agonizing silence the bowl started to melt, the air wavering around his hand.

“I’m beat,” Yamaguchi sighed, collapsing back on the floor. “Shou-kun, your turn.”

A shiver crawled up his spine at Tsukishima’s smirk.

“I still have things I want to test with you, Tadashi.” Tsukishima paced back to the bag, ruffling through it for the kinky bondage set. “But take a break, and maybe put on a shirt.”

“Aw Tsukki, you don’t like my abs?” Yamaguchi pointed to his abdomen proudly, and without meaning to Shouyou chanced a glance. Then two. Then three.

Woah, those were definitely abs. Reminder to see if Yamaguchi could bench press him at a later date. Once his ribs were fully healed, you know. No rush.

Tsukishima wisely kept his mouth shut, digging through the necessary items for Shouyou’s time in the sun. “We’re gonna try with sunglasses, a blindfold, and different thread count materials. And Tadashi will be your test subject for the mind control.”

“What?” Yamaguchi squaked, and that was that.

Shouyou could still see the colors through the sunglasses, and any fabric that had a low enough thread count for him to get glimpses of color through. He couldn’t see anything through the blindfold, eyes open or not.

Then it came time for what he feared: the mind control.

“How did it work last time?” Tsukishima used his foot to push away the countless frozen over bowls towards the side of the room, causing a finally clothed Yamaguchi (thank god) to scurry over to help.

He shrugged. “The baby wouldn’t stop crying, so I just got desperate enough to tell them to stop, and they did.”

Tsukishima hummed. “Okay - Tadashi, please stand, thank you - tell him to sit down. As many times as it takes. This is like doing receives in practice, I’m not letting you go until you get it right.”

“Kei-Kei -” “Never call me that again, and get to work Shouyou.”

Shouyou pouted, but turned to face Yamaguchi, swallowing several times.

“Sit down.” Nothing happened “Sit down.” Yamaguchi just looked vaguely bemused.

“Sit down!” Shouyou whined, pointing towards the ground, and Yamaguchi snorted. Tsukishima didn’t look amused, though.

“Focus, Shouyou.” Tsukishima said, and a frown crossed Shouyou’s face.

“I am!” He turned to face Yamaguchi again. “Sit down!”

“Focus!”

“I _am_! _Sit! down!_ ”  

Yamaguchi’s amused expression dropped into shock as his knees gave way under him, sending him toppling to the floor into a vaguely sitting position. Tsukishima jerked like he went to catch him but thought better of it at the last second, leaving the three of them standing (or, in Yamaguchi’s case, sitting) in shock.

“Shou-kun,” Yamaguchi trailed off. “Can I get up now? My legs are beginning to cramp.”

He startled. “Uh, um -” A word popped in his head, and he hummed deep in his throat at the _rightness_ of it. “ _Release._ ”

Yamaguchi’s limbs untensed, and the younger boy practically uncurled himself, stretching out his legs with a slightly pained expression on his face. “Don’t worry about it!” He hurried to say when he caught sight of Shouyou’s no doubt guilty expression. “But that’s amazing, Shou-kun! Your voice just got real deep there and it was like I couldn’t even control my legs anymore, they just sat down al on their own.”

“That’s a good thing?” He asked shakily. He just mind controlled one of his best friends into doing something, god.

Tsukishima's hand was heavy on his shoulder. “This is you, you won’t use that power for anything bad, I know it.”

It took a couple more moments, but he managed a nod.

Tsukishima directed him to sit down on the ground near where Yamaguchi had collapsed, and without a word he followed, his own legs feeling too shaky for their own good.

“Now it’s my turn.” Tsukishima rolled his head back, sitting across from Shouyou lotus style. Yamaguchi sat down a few moments later, making a lopsided triangle between the three of them. “I don’t know really how to induce a dream state without drugs - so meditation is going to have to be my next best bet. Feel free to chill on your phones till then.” With that, he rolled onto his back and slid his headphones over his ears.

Both of them shared glances, before shrugging in unison. “I downloaded a new otome game on my phone if you’re interested.” Yamaguchi whispered, and then that was that.

It was nearly an hour of quiet bickering over who to seduce and arguing over who was clearly the more attractive character before Tsukishima started mumbling to himself.

“You hear that?” Yamaguchi lowered his phone, both of them staring at Tsukishima. At this angle neither of them could tell if his eyes were open. Several more moments passed before the mumbling started again, and this time both of them could see Tsukishima’s lips moving.

Shouyou crawled his way over, pressing his palm against Tsukishima’s cheek warily. Tsukishima’s gaze was unfocused on the ceiling, headphones silent and his pupils absolutely blown.

“What’s going on?” Yamaguchi stammered, shaking Tsukishima’s shoulder. No response.

He shook his head mutely, eyes on Tsukishima’s mouth. In the sudden silence, he could almost hear what he was mumbling.

Then: “Two zero one five five two three two zero one five five two three two zero one five five two three -”

Yamaguchi slid over to his side, tapping down the numbers in his notes, but he stopped at the same time that Shouyou realized Tsukishima was just repeating the same digits.

“What are these?” Shouyou narrowed his eyes at the numbers, smoothing Tsukishima’s hair back in a weak attempt at comfort.

Yamaguchi shrugged. “I don’t know, I honestly don’t know.”

It was another hour before Tsukishima snapped out of his trance, with no recollection of what happened and barely able to keep his eyes open.

They called it quits after that.

///

The next day, the three of them, with eyebags bigger than a med student’s right before finals and unbrushed hair, poured over the odd series of numbers.

“Maybe they’re lottery tickets?” Yamaguchi offered weakly, scratching at his own pad aimlessly.

Tsukishima just shook his head. “No, I have a bad feeling about these. Damn, I wish I could ask Yachi about these, she’s freaky good about these kind of puzzles.”

Shouyou sighed, letting his head drop on the table. “She hasn’t shown any sign of having powers either though, and I haven’t seen Yamayama-kun in days to tell. How is he doing, by the way?”

Both of them just shrugged. “He comes home around nine, and then he’s gone at five in the morning.” Yamaguchi said, doodling what looked like a dragon in the corner of the page. “I can barely catch a word with him, he comes home just to eat and pass out before leaving once again before the sun rises.”

He frowned. “That can’t be healthy - what days does he have off?”

“Friday, and Sunday I think.” Yamaguchi looked to Tsukishima for confirmation, getting an absent nod before glancing back over to Shouyou. “Friday and Sunday.”

It was Thursday. “I’ll corner him tomorrow, then, but back to the numbers.”

Tsukishima groaned loudly, pushing his glasses up to rub at his eyes. “I can’t make sense of them! I _know_ they’re bad - I keep getting glimpses of things maybe? A chain fence, a brick wall, nothing that makes _concrete_ sense.”

Two zero one five five two three.

2 0 1 5 5 2 3

2015523

Realization pinged. “It’s a date!”

Shouyou wrestled the pen out of Yamaguchi’s hand, scribbling the numbers once again on the page, but leaving spaces between certain digits.

2015 5 23

2015/5/23

“May twenty-third.” Yamaguchi muttered.

Tsukishima grimaced. “Our X day, I suppose. That’s only two weeks from now. Though whatever it is, it’s bad. And we need to stop it.”

///

“ _Oh my god we’re totally superheros.”_

“Go the fuck to sleep Shou-kun.”

///

“Yamayama-kun!” Shouyou bursted into the kitchen, sliding right into the barstool as fast as his demonic crutches would let him next to a rather startled Kageyama. “We haven’t spent any time together at all lately! Let’s hang out!”

Kageyama took a moment to swallow his slice of toast before nodding his head. “Sure, I wanted to buy some new knee pads though.”

Shouyou hummed. “That’s fine! We can get lunch, but I want to go to Ueno park before the end of the cherry blossom season.”

The other boy shrugged. “Fine by me.”

///

The day had been going pretty fine until when they started heading back from Ueno park. A bag dangled from Kageyama’s hand from their earlier excursion to get said kneepads while his other hand was shoved deep in his pocket.

“- So then I was telling Tadashi that of course I was going to do it, so I chugged like six sodas in one minute and let me tell you it was not fun coming back up -”

“I didn’t know you started calling Yamaguchi by his given name.” Kageyama interrupted mildly, and if anyone else was listening, they would have guessed that Kageyama was just curious, maybe a bit bored.

Three years worth of rivalry that grew into a friendship taught Shouyou differently. “Are you - jealous?”

Kageyama flushed. “No! It’s just - you were always around when we first moved to Tokyo, but now you’re barely around, you only hang out with Tsukishima and Yamaguchi, and now you’re calling them by their given names?”

Shouyou rose to his full height. “I’m sorry Mister grumpy, but _some_ people aren’t too busy to hang out with me these days, unlike you. God, when was the last time you texted me back!”

“I text you back!” Kageyama said almost reflexively, before he averted his eyes. “I mean, I don’t intend to ignore your texts, it’s just always a bad time and -”

He scowled. “Save it.” Turning on his heel, he limped away back towards the apartment, lost in his head with only Kageyama’s shouts breaking through the haze of anger. Stupid jerk, stupid idiot, inconsiderate asshole -

“Hinata wait! Hinata, please I’m sorry, Hinata - Look out - _Shouyou_!”

His head jerked up, but it was too late, he was already halfway across the crosswalk. The pedestrians around him scattered frantically as the car careened around the corner towards them, someone knocking his left crutch right out of his arms, leaving him barely balancing with the car -

A hand gripped the back of his jacket and _yanked_.

Shouyou went tumbling backwards, his other crutch flying in the air behind him. Warm arms circled around his torso, holding them close together as the car sped by, the wind whipping his hair in his face.

It took him a moment before he could finally speak. “Thanks, Kageyama.”

Kageyama didn’t say anything. Just got up silently, handing one of his crutches to him before grabbing the other one a couple steps ahead of them. His expression was empty as he helped Shouyou to his feet, and that scared him more than anything.

Three years of rivalry that grew into friendship, and he couldn’t read his best friend’s expression.

It was absolute silence until they reached the apartment, and then all hell broke loose.

“What were you _thinking_?” Kageyama rounded on him, dumping his knee pads on the table loudly. “You could have died, pay some attention to your surroundings for once god!”

Shouyou bristled. “Shut up! It was an accident, I had the straight away, so bug off!”

Kageyama tore at his hair. “Are you listening to yourself? You could have died, from a goddamn ‘accident’!”

“So?”

“So?” Kageyama exploded. “Are you listening to yourself right now?”

“I am, and I’m saying it’s fine, I’m not dead so just -”

“You died!”

He stopped.

Kageyama…was crying. Thick tears ran down his cheeks, ugly sobs and snot clogging his words. “When…when the plane crashed,” He started, his voice calming down from his previous yelling. “You weren’t, I don’t think you were breathing. I know I panicked - but - but you weren’t breathing. But then you started - coughing maybe, it was a weird sound, real quiet I could barely hear it, after I started shaking you. And -” He swallowed. “When I went to get the others, Tsukishima’s eyes were - were open. I knew he was dead, god I knew he was dead the _look_ in his eyes, he wasn’t there, but I kept pretending, kept shaking all of you awake. And all of you made that same sound, that same coughing sound -”

Their eyes met. “I brought you back, I brought you all back from the dead.”

“Oh Tobio,” Shouyou murmured, opening his arms. Kageyama fell into them with a broken sob, knocking his crutches to the floor in his desperate grab. “It’s okay, I promise you it’s okay, everything is just fine….”

///

“You all have powers too?” Kageyama asked with wide eyes, rocking nervously on the ground.

The four of them were back in the classroom, and honestly Shouyou was just considering making this their base and calling it quits. It’s not like anyone else but them used it, if the layer of dust was any indication.

“Yep!” Shouyou nodded his head eagerly, already setting the bowls out while Tsukishima cracked open water bottles. “We’ve been training in here ever since we all found out about each other’s abilities. I can read people’s moods and order them to do something, Yamaguchi can make himself and his surroundings really hot or really cold, and Tsukishima can see the future.”

“Rather vaguely, really.” Tsukishima explained idly at Kageyama’s confused glance. “We’ve all discovered these abilities after the plane crash, but I assume discovering that you can revive people from the dead is a whole other level, King.”

Kageyama flinched. “Actually,” He trailed off, avoiding eye contact as he usually did whenever he was stressed. “I think I’ve had this since I was born.”

Tsukishima set down the last empty water bottle loudly, pining Kageyama with a blank stare. “Explan.”

“I had a dog when I was little, Mikasa.” Kageyama hurriedly explained, picking at the skin of his arms. Shouyou resisted the urge to smack them away, knowing that only made the skin picking worse, and instead handed Kageyama one of the water bowls to keep his hands busy. “She got hit by a car when I was about seven, and when my current ‘mom’ ran back into the house to call for a vet, she stopped breathing. She started again after I started trying to move her, but she was most definitely dead for over a minute.”

“Hmm,” Tsukishima placed his chin in his hands, barely paying mind to Yamaguchi leaning over and pushing up his glasses for him. “You don’t quite bring people back to the dead as much as your abilities act as a defibrillator. Hence why your abilities didn’t stop Yachi’s and Tadashi’s internal bleeding, or Shouyou’s leg from bleeding out. It’s like a temporary bandage, until we could actually get help.”

Kageyama glanced up. “So… the other people in the plane?”

Oh. He didn’t even think about that, no wonder Kageyama was stressing.

Tsukishima shook his head. “It isn’t all powerful - you got lucky with us, mainly because the majority of our injuries were internal. Things like missing limbs or blunt force trauma - you saved as many as you could. I saw you trying to wake up anyone who had a chance, and the majority of them did wake up in the end. You brought back those you could.”

Kageyama let out a shuddering breath, but didn’t say anything else.

They had no way of testing Kageyama’s powers at the moment (Tsukishima muttered something suspiciously about rats and syringes), so they had to just let him watch for now as they practiced.

“ _Sit down,_ ” He stuttered in english off the cue card Tsukishima gave him, and Yamaguchi’s knees obediently gave out under him. “ _Release_.”

It didn’t seem to matter what language he said it in, if he understood the words or not or even if his intended audience understood. It was all the _intention_ behind it.

Tsukishima theorized that soon he wouldn’t even need to say anything to get people to obey. He hoped that wouldn’t happen, ever.

Yamaguchi’s practice was mostly spent with all of them trying not to laugh, the three of them taking turns chucking tennis balls at Yamaguchi, who was ordered to try and either burn them or freeze them before they hit him. Most of the time he failed, but occasionally he got lucky in shooting one down before it hit him, though it was close calls each time.

Then it was Tsukishima’s turn.

“Is this ever going to get easier?” Yamaguchi whispers at Tsukishima plopped his head down on Kageyama’s lap, sliding his headphones over his ears and closing his eyes.

He shook his head. “I doubt it.”

This time it only took about twenty minutes before Tsukishima’s eyes fluttered back open, his pupils so blown his eyes seemed to be swallowed by the emptiness of light.

“Two zero one five five two three two zero one five five -” Tsukishima kept mumbling, but Yamaguchi just shook his head, disappointed.

Kageyama, who had been filled in while Tsukishima went diving, bit his lip. “Let me try,” He offered hesitantly.

“Tsukishima Kei,” Kageyama leaned over so he was directly over Tsukishima, and the constant repetition of numbers slowed to a stop. “What happens on the twenty third of May, 2015?”

Tsukishima’s head twitched to the side, but he somehow seemed to recognize the question. “Three hundred thousand are born, one hundred and fifty die, a train accident in Berlin, three inches of snowfall -”

Kageyama interrupted. “What happens on the twenty third of May, 2015, in regards to Hinata Shouyou, Yamaguchi Tadashi, Kageyama Tobio, Tsukishima Kei, and Yachi Hitoka?”

He paused, cocking his head. “Ya...chi...Hi...to...ka…”

“What happens to Yachi Hitoka on the twenty third of May, 2015?” Kageyama asked, a thin note of panic in his voice.

“Yachi Hitoka.” Tsukishima repeated blankly. “Yachi Hitoka will be killed on the twenty third of May, 2015, at three eighteen in the afternoon on the way home after school, from a stab wound by an attempted assault.”

///

“We have to tell her.”

Yamaguchi’s voice broke the silence of the room. Faintly, he could hear the classical music that Yachi likes to listen to when studying flowing from her room, but it only served to remind him of the ‘bad end’.

“I vote not to,” Tsukishima peaked out from under the wet towel they had draped over his eyes, before wincing and closing them once more. “There’s been no proof that she has any powers to speak of, to begin with, and even if she does believe us, we don’t know what her survival will do to the universe. Ever heard of the butterfly effect?”

“We can’t just leave her to die!” Yamaguchi jumped to his feet, his shoulders bristling with protective fury. Shouyou saw out of the corner of his eye the way Kageyama’s shoulders hunched up, and before he knew it he was butting in.

“ _Quiet_.”

Both Tsukishima’s and Yamaguchi’s jaws clicked shut at the command, equally looking both impressed with his level of control and pissed that he butted in.

He didn’t let it faze him, he didn’t have time for that. “So we know that Yachi will be murdered in little under two weeks, yeah? Either way, we’re saving her or Yamaguchi is going to try and stop her death by himself, and it’s better to have four than one, right?”

Tsukishima nodded reluctantly, but Kageyama refused to answer, even if he seemed to lose some of the tension building in his shoulders.

“Now we just gotta figure out what to do now, right, captain and vice-captain?” He got a pointed look and a finger pointing to their jaw repeatedly. “Oh yeah, forgot about that. _Release_.”

“Things still don’t make sense,” Tsukishima rubbed his jaw for a moment, like it actually hurt, the big baby. “Things like why I predicted her death even before Kageyama asked me to, why her death is so important against the countless that happen each day, how we got our powers, and for what? None of this makes sense.”

“I don’t know, Tsukki.” Yamaguchi sighed. “I don’t know.”

///

Yachi looked more tired than usual when she came home that night, and yet he couldn’t find the words to comfort her when all he could see was the day of her death swarming above her in bright letters.

///

A week passed. X day was approaching faster than Shouyou thought possible.

Iwasaki came back from Kyoto, so the monotony of work helped pass it, he supposed, but it still felt like the passage of time was going way too fast.

 _Why is Yachi’s death so important?_ He penned on the notebook paper, letting the ink become runny under his hands. _Does Yachi have superpowers?_

It would make sense, right? Four of the five of them already have powers, but out of all of them it seemed Yachi was the least stressed out of all of them. The two of them had dinner duty that night, stirring the sauce in the pan for shogayaki that night. He could hear the sounds of the old rice cooker in the background, along with the rhythmic ‘clicks’ of Yachi’s knife hitting the chopping board.

“Ouch!” Shouyou nearly flung the pan to the side in order to turn to Yachi, who was sucking on her finger with a pained expression.

“You okay, Yacchan?” She nodded, popping the finger out of her mouth and examining it under the light. He limped towards her, taking her hand gently and taking a look for it himself. “Hmm, I don’t see any cut, maybe it just grazed you?”

Yachi was staring at her finger, her expression unreadable. “Y-Yeah, maybe. I’m - I’m gonna go to the bathroom.” Her hand slipped neatly out of his hold, practically running out of the kitchen, the sounds of the bathroom door slamming shut reverberating in the near empty apartment.

Shouyou bit his lip, eyeing the plate of vegetables for a long moment. What was that about?

He finally saw it as he went to finish Yachi’s job for her, the spots of blood decorating the chopping board and the newest batch of cut vegetables.

“Yacchan?” His voice was a near whisper. That was most definitely blood, she had most definitely cut herself -

The knife was gone. She had taken the knife with her into the bathroom.

“Hitoka!” He bolted towards the bathroom, slamming his palm against the wood several times. His crutches fell to the floor with a loud clatter, and with his now free hand he thumbed open the group chat. “Please open the door!”

 **AngryGinger** : you guys need to come home rn

There was silence. “Yachan, please open the door!”

“Go away, Shouyou.” Yachi’s voice was weak, but it was there. “Just...go…”

Fuck it. He had one good leg, but that’s all he needed to kick down a door right? But the knobs were shitty anyhow, if he just -

He slammed his shoulder against the door, turned the knob just right, and -

The door gave way, swinging open loudly as it banged against the opposite wall.

Blood, so much blood.

Yachi was leaning against the sink cupboard, her arms limp by her side. The knife had fallen from her hands, but he kicked it away regardless, something shaking inside him at the stickiness he was stepping in.

She moved her head up to look at him, then, her hair having fallen out of its side ponytail and framing her face in messy strands.

“I sliced my wrists right open,” She laughed hoarsely, holding up said wrists. “And they healed up right in front of me.”

He carefully took her wrists in hand, sliding a thumb down the unblemished skin. It was true; the skin was untouched, no evidence of her having sliced down except for the puddles of blood sticking to his knees and socks.

Faintly, he heard the front door slamming open. “Shou-kun? Hitoka-chan?”

Shouyou didn’t take his eyes off Yachi’s hysterical expression. “In here, Tadashi!”

Footsteps stomped through the living room, and he could hear Yamaguchi’s horrified, choked breath as he finally got a glimpse of the image inside.

Yachi blinked wet eyes. “I can’t die. I literally can’t die.”

///

That same evening, the five of them curled up on the couch together, smothering Yachi in as much affection as she could handle. Dressed in an oversized sweater she had stolen off Kageyama second year, she curled herself around the hot chocolate Yamaguchi made her with a sightly vacant expression.

Tsukishima had his arms wrapped around her waist, letting her steal his lap for as long as she wanted with no usual protests. Kageyama had his head on her shoulder with his eyes shut tightly, as if he could will away his problems just by closing his eyes. Yamaguchi took her other side, rubbing a wet cloth in between her fingers where red had stained itself with a pinched expression. Everyone’s colors were muted, mixed together so beautifully but stained in horror and grief.

Shouyou himself was sitting on the floor, his head resting on her lap. Tsukishima had just finished telling her the story in halting detail, sometimes stopping for someone to add their own two cents in.

“I die on the twenty-third?” Was the first thing she mumbled out after Tsukishima finished the storytelling. “That’s - that’s not possible. I -”

She blinked, and the vacant expression faded slightly. “A week ago, I uh, died, I think. Some kids - they were acting a bit rough with each other, and they didn’t notice me walking by - they knocked me right off the walkway over the fence. We were on the third floor. I thought I was a goner - and then I woke up on the grass in a puddle of my own blood with nothing wrong with me. Only twenty minutes had passed.”

Yachi let out another hysterical laugh. “I remembered pain, and something snapping. I broke my damn neck and woke up like it was nothing.”

Shouyou reached out to the hand holding the hot coco, steadying it before she accidentally dumped it all over herself.

“I literally brought you all back from the dead,” Kageyama stated bluntly, his eyes fluttering open to pin Yachi with a stare. “Blame me for it, I’m the reason you all have these powers you never asked for.”

He held up a hand before they could ram him with questions. “No - listen. I could bring people back from the dead long before I met any of you, and it was only after I brought you back that you all started having abilities. I - Mikasa, was never the same after I brought her back, either, I always chalked it up to her being overprotective, but she was a lot smarter than a dog should be.”

Tsukishima leaned back slightly, bring Yachi with him. “So your  ability is what gave us our abilities, huh. It wasn’t the plane crash at all, but our deaths. King - did you ever have a near death experience when you were younger?”

Kageyama blinked. “During one of my foster homes, when I was around six I think. They locked me out of the house during the winter, and if it weren’t for some person walking by spotting me I would have died. Not that I remember it though, I passed out once I got so cold I felt warm.”

“Then, it seems you got your ability from being brought back yourself.” Tsukishima had a smug smirk. “Likey the stranger brought you back and got you help, and thus gave you powers yourself. I don’t know the reason why the power to bring back the death wasn’t transferred to the four of us when you brought us back, perhaps you need to be compatible for it?”

“Can we get back to the subject on hand?” Yamaguchi complained, letting the wet cloth dropped with a wet ‘clunk’ next to him. “May twenty-third.”

Tsukishima released one hand from around Yachi’s waist to bring to his mouth, his stare distant for a long moment. “If Yachi can’t physically be killed, then perhaps it wasn’t….no, wait. Tadashi, grab me my headphones. Yachi, be a dear and climb off for a moment.”

Yachi followed his order with a confused expression, which only got worse as Kageyama shifted so his back was against the arm rest and Yamaguchi dug through the semi-permanent duffle bag in the corner of the room for Tsukishima’s headphones.

It only took five minutes this time before Tsukishima opened his eyes.

“What happens to Yachi Hitoka on May twenty-third, 2015, exactly?” Kageyama pressed, his hands running through Tsukishima’s hair soothingly.

Tsukishima didn’t answer. Then: “Her secret will be discovered, and thus she will be ‘killed’.”

Yamaguchi leaned over the back of the couch to make eye contact. “Her secret? You mean the fact she can’t die?”

He nodded. “It will be discovered, and Yachi Hitoka will be erased from existence.”

Wow, even Trance Tsukishima is a bit of an ass with being a bit too secretive. “Existence? Do you mean her identity?”

“Yes. Yachi Hitoka’s ‘death’ will be filmed and published, and hence she will be erased to be studied. She is to be killed on the twenty third of May, 2015, at three eighteen in the afternoon, thus creating a string of disappearances of those with powers. ”

It was silent.

Tsukishima’s eyes fluttered close.

///

X day arrived, and Shouyou called out of work sick. Iwasaki sounded vaguely annoyed, but he knew it was fake as she alternated between threatening him to get better and telling him to rest up with plenty of fluids.

When he finally crawled out of his bed for some breakfast, even if his stomach really wasn’t feeling up to it, he wasn’t that surprised to see all the others (minus Yachi) gathered throughout the living room. Tsukishima was still passed out on the couch with a towel thrown over his eyes (everytime he induced the trance state he was always left with a raging headache afterwards) while Yamaguchi and Kageyama were muching quietly in the kitchen.

Yachi had an exam that day, so they had to let her go, even if all their hearts were perpetually trapped in their throats.

The hours crawled by. Yachi sent hourly updates, something none of them requested but all appreciated regardless. Shouyou tried everything to distract him, eventually giving up around noon and opened up the Sims on Tsukishima’s laptop to waste some time.

All of them were there an hour before Yachi’s class even ended.

All they needed to do was walk her home and make sure no one stopped them.

“It’s like I have my own entourage of bodyguards.” She snorted as she was promptly escorted back home. “This is kinda nice, you guys should do it more often.”

Shouyou let out a soft snort, hooking his arm with hers gently. “I work till four, you know that, but I’m sure Kei and Tadashi would be more than happy to walk you home.”

“We would?” Yamaguchi pointed at himself, before getting a swift elbow in his gut by Shouyou. “Yeah, we would.”

The walk was awkwardly silent. They could do this.

They had to.

3:10

Shouyou traded unsure glances with Yamaguchi, huddling close to his side while never letting go of Yachi’s elbow.

3:12

Kageyama’s shoulders were nearly up to his ears, he was so tense. Even Tsukishima kept his gaze more on the crowd warily around them rather than the path ahead of them.

3:14

“Hey, blond girl!”

All of them stiffened, gathering around Yachi protectively. Who cares if she can’t die? They’re not letting her be stabbed either.

Small hands gripped the back of Kageyama’s shirt. “They’re-they’re the guys from before, the ones who knocked me down.”

Yeah, Shouyou couldn’t blame Tsukishima for the protective growl he made. Accident or not, permanent or not, they _killed_ Yachi.

A group of three boys stopped in front of them, eyeing all of them for a long moment before trying to peek behind Kageyama and Tsukishima, who weren’t making it easy for them. Damn, of course the street was one of the less busy ones, right?

“Hey, you.” The leader of them stepped closer, one of his hands held firmly in his pocket. “We definitely saw you break your neck, no one could survive that, so how are you still walking around all fine and dandy?”

Yachi’s voice shook. “I-It’s really none of your business, can you let us go please?”

Despite Tsukishima’s and Kageyama’s no doubt terrifying glares, they were either bold or stupid, because they kept advancing step by step. “I think you made it my business when I went to get my buddies and you weren’t even there, left a big old puddle of blood though.”

Yamaguchi ducked in front of them, snatching the leader’s hand right out of his pocket. A silver pocket knife glittered in the sun, and a fierce sound came out of his mouth before he squeezed on the boy’s wrist. Even from this distance he could see the burns - from frost or heat he couldn’t tell - streaming themselves around the delicate skin of human flesh.

“Jesus christ!” The leader screamed, finally releasing his grip on the knife so Yamaguchi would let go of him, cradling the wrist close to his chest. “What kind of freak are you?”

It was easy to forget, that Yamaguchi was the only one who could really leathalize his abilities. Seeing the future, bringing people back from the dead, making people obey you, the inability to die - those were all passive powers in the end.

Nothing like the cold look in Yamaguchi’s eyes, a quickly liquefying knife in his hand dripping onto the concrete and _melting_ said concrete. “Leave, before I make you.”

“Tadashi - Brunet is filming it!”

Shouyou spun on his heel, seeing said brunet quickly yank his phone back and began typing almost frantically and _no he wouldn’t let them hurt his strings -_

Something inside him clicked into place, and for the first time since he woke up dazed in the remains of a ruined plane he felt _right_.

All three boys stilled, not even blinking, not even breathing. Shouyou took a shuddering breath, and then another.

“Delete it.” He said rather calmly, more than he felt anyhow. The brunet didn’t move for a few seconds until he drew up the intent behind it and - “ _Delete it_.”

Brunet followed his order robotically, looking up at him once he had finished with the task.

“ _Delete all of it, any evidence._ ” Another few taps again this time.

Shouyou steeled himself, feeling Kageyama’s comforting hand on his shoulder. “ _Forget Yachi Hitoka, forget all of this happened, and go home right now_. _After you enter your door you are released._ ”

He watched them leave near silent, only barking out orders for them to blink and breathe as needed when he noticed they weren’t.

“Well,” He spoke in the quiet of the street as the three zombies turned the corner and out of sight. “I’m probably gonna pass out now, so someone catch me.”

Shouyou’s like 80% sure that Yachi was actually the one to catch him, but he didn’t know, because darkness rushed to meet him like a wave, and so to say -

He passed the fuck out.

///

“Yachi Hitoka’s fate has been averted, the date of her death is no longer able to be predicted.” A sigh of relief went through the whole living room, Kageyama even collapsing back into the armrest with a tired whoop.  

“Thank you,” Yamaguchi offered sincerely to Tsukishima, but Tsukishima just blinked, the pupils shrinking back to a normal size slowly as he exited the weird trance state.

“You know what this means?” Shouyou waved his check in the air. “Time to treat ourselves to something good!”

“Can we get ramen?” Tsukishima groaned, rubbing a hand over his eyes. “I want ramen. I feel like a pregnant woman right now with the cravings.”

They all traded shrugs, but as he was passing by Tsukishima shoved his check back in his pocket. “I can pay for it, shortie. You save up the money for yourself.”

Shouyou leaned back on the couch, staring up at Tsukishima upside down. “Like what? You barely let me pay for anything myself, and I’m like seventy two percent certain you’re gonna kidnap me to live with you when you graduate because we all have a probably unhealthy codependency from our PTSD.”

Tsukishima just gave him a weird stare. “Where do you even come up with these things?”

“You’re not denying it, Kei!”

“Can’t hear you, _Shouyou_.”

Shouyou’s laugher lasted long after Tsukishima left to get changed, leaving him with only Yachi in the room with him, who was intently staring at her knees.

“...Thank you, Shouyou.” Yachi whispered softly, bringing her knees up to her chest. It took him a couple moments, but he heard a distinctive sniff and went _oh hell_.  

“Hey, it’s all okay now.” Shouyou hushed in his best daycare voice, scooting over on the couch to offer his arm to her. Yachi took the invitation easily, curling under his touch.

“Shouyou…I don’t think…” She trailed off, but continued at his probing stare. “I don’t think I can die, _ever_. Am I - going to be stuck, at eighteen forever?”

His heart jumped. “...I don’t know, Hitoka, but I do know this: we’re gonna be with you forever, I promise you.”

“And,” He fiddled with her hair, tucking a stand behind her ear. “I think you need to get a haircut, your hair has most definitely grown in the past couple of weeks.”

///

_Dear mama, Tokyo is treating me well._

Shouyou perked up at the sounds of Kageyama’s quiet laugher, smothered under his hand as Yachi poked at his sides. For the first time, nearly two months after they all moved to Tokyo and subsequently discovered they had superpowers, they were all gathered in that same empty classroom.

_Iwasaki-san pays me well, and since Kei refuses to let me pay any bills (he found about the my sneaky plan to pay for the rent last week and dumped a bunch of ice cubes in my bed as payback) I have a whole lot saved up. I’ve been thinking of applying for night classes, actually. Hitoka’s been helping me study for the entrance exam._

A sharpie hit his forehead. “C’mon Shou-kun, finish up the letter already!”

He tossed it back without even bothering to look up, scribbling out yet another mistake and thanking the high aboves that he went with a pencil instead of a pen. “Fuck off!”

_I think I’m gonna go into child psychology, continue working with kids. I know I never planned on it, but I also didn’t plan on volleyball. I can no longer play, but it still calls me. But you know what?_

Shouyou glanced up, then, at all his friends, the ones he would follow to the ends of the earth.

_I followed my strings, and I think, in the end, I followed my heart too. I’m happy._

_Give Natsu my love, I’m coming up for summer break, so she better be ready to wow me with her soccer skills. You take care of yourself too, don’t forget to rest up now and then and not overwork yourself, I’ll know if you keep pulling all nighters._

“Look, look!” Shouyou chance a look up, his mouth falling open into a perfect ‘O’ at what laid in front of him.

It was the poster - the one from so long ago. All of their names were written on it in careful lettering, and Yachi had decorated the edges in cute drawings of the five of them, hand in hand.

“The superpowered squad…” He murmured, voice thick with amusement.

Huh. Guess they did turn out alright, in the end.

_Love, Shouyou._

**Author's Note:**

> Wow....I'm not sure what to do with my time anymore lol 
> 
> Tsukishima's chat room name came that one Tropicana sparkling commercial... don't watch it, trust me. Yamaguchi is the one who sets the chatroom names, actually. Also when Hinata was 'AnAngryExpresso', that actually came from a quote I saw about short people and bitterness, thus an espresso. 
> 
> I came here to write 20k but now I have a whole involved backstory with hcs and everything about them, things like the second year graduation party and how they got stuck in jail in Scotland. Maybe I should make a fic about this, lmao. 
> 
> This should have had a lot more subplots than it did, but I had to cut it short due to time restraints. As this is exclusively in Hinata's POV, some things are purposely missed in regards to other characters. Let me know if any of y'all are confused, or if you spot a mistake that would also be gratefully appreciated.


End file.
